http://planetsave.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Plastic-bottles-being-landfilled.png
Everyone drinks
bottled water from time to time. Before drinking your next bottle it is important
to consider how each bottle impacts the environment. "Consumers need to
understand that although it takes only 1.3 litres of the fresh water supply to
fill a one litre of bottled water, it is the additional three litres of water
that are used to manufacture and package the water that is of concern to the
world’s water supply" (Chellaney 2). Most people do not stop to think that it
actually takes more water to make one plastic water bottle than the water
inside the bottle. Canada’s energy resources are also impacted by the bottled
water industry with 24 million gallons of oil needed to produce billion plastic
bottles. When you also factor in the energy and costs of producing, processing
and transporting this water, it is causing great environmental damage and "uses
over 47 million gallons of oil per year" (Baskind, 2). Water sources are being
depleted at a very fast rate. The bottled water industry uses "oil based transportation to transport
raw materials and finished products, which contribute to global warming and the
production of green house gases" (From Cradle to Grave: The Environmental
Footprint of Bottled Water 1). The amount of plastic waste and packaging
produced from bottled water remains a crisis as landfills continue to pile up. "Toronto
consumes over 100 million plastic bottles each year and 35% are not recycled
and another estimated 10% that ends up in one of the oceans" (Trillana 1). Canadians have better recycling programs than
other countries, however consumers have to understand how this garbage impacts
the environment for it to become more efficient.
