Give up the bottle, the packaged plastic water bottle.
This is a simple and dramatic action you can take to reduce plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
We are very fortunate in the United States. Most of our drinking water is just as clean as the water that can be purchased in plastic bottles. Add in filtration through a modern refrigerator and you have clean water coveted by most of the world. You really don’t appreciate the luxury of available clean water until you travel to places where bottled water is a necessity - Turkey.
But all of those empty individual-serving plastic bottles are a waste problem, not to mention the resources needed to produce them. Recycling helps, but each manufactured bottle is traveling by air or by truck for miles from its bottling origin to get to its point of sales.
Refillable water bottles are everywhere this holiday season. But all bottles are not created equal. Bottles that will maintain the healthy quality of your water are made of stainless steel or copolyester, a new polycarbonate that is free of bisphenol A (BPA for short). A third option is aluminum WITH a copolyester lining. Look for a quality product because your health matters. Name brands like Nalgene (U.S.), Camelback (imported) Klean Kanteen (imported) and others provide information about the materials in their container. You want a bottle that will last through many work days and adventures. The green and orange bottles pictured here have been all the way to outer Mongolia and back.
So drop a hint to your friends and family that a refillable water bottle would be a great gift item for you. You’ll make a difference and maybe they will wonder why you want such a thing. Then you’ll have a second action–passing on the message that it is time to give up the prepackaged plastic water bottle.
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