Whether it's coke, water or juice, you get your drink mostly in just one specific kind of bottle. Pay close attention to the beverage area in your supermarket. You will see that almost every single bottle is made of plastic. It's no surprise that an average American consumes around 167 plastic water bottles per year. Keep in mind that other kinds of beverages like coke and juice are not included in that number. Sounds like a lot? Then read that: Worldwide, 1 million plastic bottles are produced per minute. Not per year, not per month, PER MINUTE. If you put every plastic bottle produced annually.
Drink your plastic! - not
Whether it's coke, water or juice, you get your drink mostly in just one specific kind of bottle. Pay close attention to the beverage area in your supermarket. You will see that almost every single bottle is made of plastic. It's no surprise that an average American consumes around 167 plastic water bottles per year. Keep in mind that other kinds of beverages like coke and juice are not included in that number. Sounds like a lot? Then read that: Worldwide, 1 million plastic bottles are produced per minute. Not per year, not per month, PER MINUTE. If you put every plastic bottle produced annually next to each other, you would reach the planet Mercury, which is about 75 million kilometers (48 million miles) away. Considering the fact that plastic bottles need up to 700 years to dissolve, their number on earth will increase. Maybe we'll even be able to reach the sun soon.
But because we don't want to build bridges between planets made out of plastic bottles, we should consider drastically reducing our consumption.
Why refusing is so much better than recycling
“Let’s keep consuming plastic – just recycle it!”
Please don't listen to people saying that. Recycling is a really cute idea and when it comes to plastic waste, it's probably your best option. The only thing that would be even better is to make small, sustainable choices and completely refuse to buy beverages in plastic bottles. Because the problem with recycling is, that “you're turning a dirty product into another dirty product” (- Sheila Hanney)
The reason why recycling might not be the solution for all our problems is the fact that it's often not possible to recycle all of the bottle. There will always be a part that won't transform into a new object, whether it's a new bottle or clothes.
The other reason why you should refuse plastic bottles completely has less to do with recycling but more with the actual consumption. With every plastic bottle you consume, you consume a part of the substances contained. Chemicals like bisphenol A enter your body and can cause various diseases including cancer.
Finally, recycling a bottle won't keep the microplastic back from entering the ocean. Let's say your plastic bottles get recycled into a T-shirt. When you then wash that T-shirt, microplastic separates from it and enters directly the water. Fishes than confuse it with food and eat it. And then there are two options: either that fish consumes so much microplastic that it dies or, the fish gets caught and lands on our plate. Yummy.
What alternatives do we have?
After a bunch of paragraphs of me chattering about all these problems, it's time to tell you, that it's pretty easy to avoid eating your own trash. Just use your own reusable bottle. That's how easy it is! Brands like 24bottles, BeBottle, Carrybottles and Kappi produce such bottles with a pretty and unique design. Just fill them up with filtered water, infuse it with fruits if you want to and enjoy your drink!
lly next to each other, you would reach the planet Mercury, which is about 75 million kilometers (48 million miles) away. Considering the fact that plastic bottles need up to 700 years to dissolve, their number on earth will increase. Maybe we'll even be able to reach the sun soon.
But because we don't want to build bridges between planets made out of plastic bottles, we should consider drastically reducing our consumption.
Why refusing is so much better than recycling
“Let’s keep consuming plastic – just recycle it!”
Please don't listen to people saying that. Recycling is a really cute idea and when it comes to plastic waste, it's probably your best option. The only thing that would be even better is to make small, sustainable choices and completely refuse to buy beverages in plastic bottles. Because the problem with recycling is, that “you're turning a dirty product into another dirty product” (- Sheila Hanney)
The reason why recycling might not be the solution for all our problems is the fact that it's often not possible to recycle all of the bottle. There will always be a part that won't transform into a new object, whether it's a new bottle or clothes.
The other reason why you should refuse plastic bottles completely has less to do with recycling but more with the actual consumption. With every plastic bottle you consume, you consume a part of the substances contained. Chemicals like bisphenol A enter your body and can cause various diseases including cancer.
Finally, recycling a bottle won't keep the microplastic back from entering the ocean. Let's say your plastic bottles get recycled into a T-shirt. When you then wash that T-shirt, microplastic separates from it and enters directly the water. Fishes than confuse it with food and eat it. And then there are two options: either that fish consumes so much microplastic that it dies or, the fish gets caught and lands on our plate. And we end up consuming our trash, again.
What alternatives do we have?
After a bunch of paragraphs of me telling you to stop buying and using plastic bottles, it's time to tell you what you can do instead. This alternative is super easy: use your own reusable bottle. Brands like 24bottles, BeBottle, Carrybottles and Kappi produce such bottles with a pretty and unique design. Just fill them up with filtered water, infuse it with fruits if you want to and enjoy your drink!
