Between 1990 and 2005, sales of water in plastic bottles has quadrupled. These bottles are disposable one-time use plastic that cost money, aren’t much different than other options available, and can have adverse health risks.
Did you know that plastic bottles made with PET (a petroleum based plastic) may not crack or break if you drop them, but when left in a landfill, this same chemical means a single bottle can take up to 450 years to decompose.
Sometimes I feel that we see, hear and know these numbers but that they don’t become anything we can truly visualize. Based on our current consumption of plastic disposable water bottles, we use around 50 Billion per year. Around 80% of these are not recycled. They end up in landfills or polluting the planet and oceans. So that plastic bottle you threw away today will not only still be there when your sixth times Great Grandchild is having their turn on this planet, but it will be joined by another 18 Trillion bottles – more if we added another quadruple increase in consumption. Unless of course we, or a those future generations get our heads out of the sand and decide to do something about it. Shame on us if we don’t.
Recently I have been tracing our family tree, going back generations to see the history of my ancestors, wondering what good they did for the world. I am proud when I find something inspiring or which made a difference in history. So now I wonder what future humans are going to see when they look back at us in history? Our legacy is going to be that of a society spoiled with convenience; one which is not concerned about what will happen in the future to wildlife on earth, or resources, or the health of the human race. Hopefully there is a future generation or two that will actually care more about planet Earth and longterm sustainability than we do.
So back to plastic water bottles! As we mentioned in last week’s blog, refilling single use disposable water bottles is not a good idea! Studies show re-using disposable plastic bottles is dangerous to our health. BPA is the most well known of the chemicals that may leech from the plastic into our water, and has been linked to Breast Cancer, Uterine Cancer and increase of miscarriage. It has also been shown to have affects on children’s development. Plastic bottles also can contain PET, which may also leech chemicals into our water. PET had been shown to cause kidney, liver and lung damage, as well as cause birth defects, particularly in the development of unborn males. How does this get into our water? A simple act of leaving a plastic water bottle in a hot car, and then drinking it later on, may be a sure way to fill your body with all those chemicals because plastic, when exposed to heat, can be toxic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently found that more than 90% of bottled water had micro plastics inside it; to summarize what they found;
“259 bottles from 19 locations in nine countries across 11 different brands found an average of 325 plastic particles for every liter of water being sold.”
Usually a survey of consumers buying bottled water will give two main responses for why they are purchasing it; either people think bottled water is a healthier option, or it’s just purely more convenient.
So let’s re-establish two things immediately that we cannot deny; buying bottled water is expensive, it costs upwards of 300 times more money than filling up from your tap, and globally we dispose of 50 Billion plastic bottles per year, with 40 Billion ending up in the trash, landfills, rivers, lakes and oceans. This doesn’t seem so convenient to me, what do you think?
Let’s address health. Did you know that most bottled water is taken directly from a municipal water supply local to the factory? It is then filtered, run through a UV light and bottled. It then sits in the bottles until it is purchased by you. Whether certain contaminants are in the water already, or they come from the plastic journey the water runs through to get from the factory to your hand, this water has traces of plastic chemicals, chlorine and micro plastics. Also this water has all the “good stuff” removed and all the “bad stuff” removed – read a previous blog to learn more about this – making it safe for you, but not healthy. It has been reported than Dasani adds table salt into their water to make it taste better after filtration. Safe water, but not necessarily a healthy option. Both Aquafina and Dasani use municipal tap water piped to their factories to fill their bottles. Poland Spring is being sued right now, allegedly they do not get their water from natural springs.
So if I was to have an at-home filter for my tap water to make amazing high quality drinking water such as the PUR2o Alkaline Plus, and I had a reusable water bottle that I fill each day, I could save money, save the planet and be confident about the water quality I am drinking. Why would we do anything less for our body? It is our most important possession after all.
About PUR2o
We are striving to provide as many people as possible with filtered, purified, naturally alkaline and ionized water for drinking and cooking straight from the tap, for three reasons. We care about the health of YOU, the health of our PLANET and the health of your POCKET!
THE HEALTH OF YOU
Our goal is to provide as many people as possible with pure, crystal clear, safe & healthy water.
PUR2o Alkaline water is shown to benefit: Overall health and energy, weight management, muscle stimulation, brain power, digestive system, mood, body temperature, youthfulness, complexion, lifespan, and boosting your immune system.
THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET
We are also committed to creating a greater awareness of how plastic and plastic bottles are polluting our planet and our bodies by providing the best water out of your tap, eliminating the amount of plastic we dispose of and how much water we consume out of plastic bottles.
THE HEALTH OF YOUR POCKET
Aside from all the health benefits of Alkaline Water, you save a tremendous amount of money with our systems! Did you know?…. If you drink eight glasses of water each day, it will cost approximately $55 per year; vs $1,700 if you were to drink the same amount of bottled water instead. The PUR2o system pays for its self in only one year by one persons water consumption.