Joe O'Neill
Powell ENS 112
Individual Project
5 December 2017
Project: Cutting Back on Plastic Water Bottles
Introduction
According to the CRI (Container Recycling Institute), each day in the U.S. more than 60 million water bottles are thrown away, about 22 billion per year. The ultimate problem is the misuse of the water bottles after they are consumed. About 80% of plastics end up in landfills or incinerators, and as seen many are littered and end up on the streets or in public parks. Another main issue is the cost of water bottles, not necessarily the cost to produce them, but the cost to purchase them, and why they don't benefit society. Over the past couple of years, sales from noncarbonated bottled water have exceeded $10 billion. …show more content…
I saved time and effort going to the store to purchase a case of water including time walking, Uber money, etc. I did not run into a scenario where I had to drink from a plastic water bottle during the second week. There is a filtered water fountain in my building as well as other buildings where I was able to refill my reusable bottle throughout the day. During the first week, I had to buy 3 cases of water which had 24 bottles in each case. Each case was about $4.50 adding up to a total of $13.50. As a poor college student, that $13.50 could have come in handy and can be saved by using a free, reusable water bottle. If I stick to the plan of cutting back on buying/drinking from plastic water bottles it would benefit me as well as the environment. It was a worthwhile experience because it made me realize that I can be saving a lot of money and most importantly it made me realize that in reality the tap water we drink from is just as good as quality as the bottled water that we think is …show more content…
These changes can without a doubt be done by everyone. Positive effects can include saving money, protecting the environment/animals, and reducing time and effort to purchase plastic water bottles and having to worry about recycling them. Cutting back on drinking plastic water bottles and using reusable bottles can reduce our ecological footprint greatly. In turn, large scale changes could be harmful to plastic water bottle brands/companies and who manufactures them as well as stores that sell them including convenient or grocery stores. If we cut back our consumption, then these brands and stores would not be making a profit and it would be a disadvantage for them. As society, I honestly don't believe it would be reasonable or beneficial to mandate these changes through policy. People are going to do what they want and drink from what they want and even if a policy was put in place people would end up just treating reusable water bottles as disposable ones. These changes have the potential to be implemented on a large scale if people are aware of the benefits and realize that tap water is just as purified as any other drinking water brand that there is. It is worth it if changes are actually made, if not then it is just a lost cause. Overall, there are many benefits to reducing the use of plastic water bottles both personally and environmentally
Powell ENS 112
Individual Project
5 December 2017
Project: Cutting Back on Plastic Water Bottles
Introduction
According to the CRI (Container Recycling Institute), each day in the U.S. more than 60 million water bottles are thrown away, about 22 billion per year. The ultimate problem is the misuse of the water bottles after they are consumed. About 80% of plastics end up in landfills or incinerators, and as seen many are littered and end up on the streets or in public parks. Another main issue is the cost of water bottles, not necessarily the cost to produce them, but the cost to purchase them, and why they don't benefit society. Over the past couple of years, sales from noncarbonated bottled water have exceeded $10 billion. …show more content…
I saved time and effort going to the store to purchase a case of water including time walking, Uber money, etc. I did not run into a scenario where I had to drink from a plastic water bottle during the second week. There is a filtered water fountain in my building as well as other buildings where I was able to refill my reusable bottle throughout the day. During the first week, I had to buy 3 cases of water which had 24 bottles in each case. Each case was about $4.50 adding up to a total of $13.50. As a poor college student, that $13.50 could have come in handy and can be saved by using a free, reusable water bottle. If I stick to the plan of cutting back on buying/drinking from plastic water bottles it would benefit me as well as the environment. It was a worthwhile experience because it made me realize that I can be saving a lot of money and most importantly it made me realize that in reality the tap water we drink from is just as good as quality as the bottled water that we think is …show more content…
These changes can without a doubt be done by everyone. Positive effects can include saving money, protecting the environment/animals, and reducing time and effort to purchase plastic water bottles and having to worry about recycling them. Cutting back on drinking plastic water bottles and using reusable bottles can reduce our ecological footprint greatly. In turn, large scale changes could be harmful to plastic water bottle brands/companies and who manufactures them as well as stores that sell them including convenient or grocery stores. If we cut back our consumption, then these brands and stores would not be making a profit and it would be a disadvantage for them. As society, I honestly don't believe it would be reasonable or beneficial to mandate these changes through policy. People are going to do what they want and drink from what they want and even if a policy was put in place people would end up just treating reusable water bottles as disposable ones. These changes have the potential to be implemented on a large scale if people are aware of the benefits and realize that tap water is just as purified as any other drinking water brand that there is. It is worth it if changes are actually made, if not then it is just a lost cause. Overall, there are many benefits to reducing the use of plastic water bottles both personally and environmentally