Library Raises Awareness about Bottled Water

During Sustainability Month in October library visitors might have noticed empty water bottles cropping up all over the library. We collected 118 in all. We were raising awareness about the waste brought about by pumping, packaging, and transporting bottled water to faraway places where perfectly healthy tap water is accessible. 30 million plastic water bottles (made from oil) are thrown away every day. The question lingers--is it time for an expanded bottle bill to place deposits on water bottles? You decide. But for those who missed our brochure here are some facts:

2 liters of water go into manufacturing every liter of bottled water.

The energy used each year making the bottles for bottled water in the U.S. is equivalent to more than 17 million barrels of oil.

If water and soft drink bottlers had used 10% recycled materials in their plastic bottles in 2004, they would have saved 72 million gallons of gasoline.

Dennis Muchmore, Michigan United Conservation Clubs Executive Director says, “Although our citizens now return 97 percent of the 5 and a half- billion bottles and cans for which they pay a deposit, they recycle only 20 percent of the bottled water containers because no deposit is required. Eighty percent of those empty containers end up in landfills or critical wildlife habitats. It’s a terrible waste.”