You can’t leave the house without one. Everyone’s got one. They’re the affordable and dispensible accessory that holds the one thing that we can’t live without. It’s the ubiquitous, recyclable water bottle. The grim truth behind those single use water bottles (unless you’re one of those people that reuse these bottles many times over) is that they are one of the biggest contributors our planet’s landfills and marine debris.

North Americans spent over 15 billion dollars for water in plastic bottles. Tap water is cheaper than bottled and sometimes even better. Most bottled water is filtered. Buy your own water filter and attach it to your faucet.

In 2007 Americans used 50 billion plastic water bottles. That’s 167 bottles per person. Buy a reusable plastic water bottle. To clean rinse them out with cold (not hot) water.

Un-recycled plastic ends up in landfills and the ocean. Just because your bottle has the little “recycle” icon stamped on it does not mean that it gets recycled. Over 60% of water bottles end up in landfills and the ocean. Use multi-use bags for grocery shopping and buy a reusable water bottle.

Planes, trains and automobiles. Bottled water comes to you at a serious cost to the environment. For example, Fiji water is produced at a factory that runs 24/7. It is then shipped and trucked to destinations all over the world. Think about all of the resources that are utilized for processing and delivering bottled water.

All water is not created equal. Be it Poland Spring, Fiji, Evian or Pellegrino, the bottled water business has something for everyone. Yet in a taste test many people cannot discern between their favorite brand of bottled water and regular tap water.

Water Definitions

• Artesian - Water tapped from an aquifer, “an underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, silt, or clay) from which groundwater can be usefully extracted using a water well.” (source: wikipedia)
• Spring water - Bottled water derived from an underground formation from which water flows naturally to the surface of the earth which must be collected only at the spring. (source: wikipedia)
• Mineral water - Water originating from a geologically and physically protected underground water source that contains at least 250 parts per million total dissolved solids (TDS). No minerals may be added to this water. (source: FDA)
• Municipal water - Tap water that has been treated through distillation or reverse osmosis. (source: FDA)