carolinafrica:

Water Bottle Pollution

In 1976 Americans drank an average of 1.6 gallons of bottled water every year. Roughly 30 years later consumption increased to 30 gallons per person, despite the fact that bottled water can cost anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more than tap water. Bottled water also creates its own share of pollution —- the production of plastic bottles requires millions of barrels of oil per year and the transportation of bottled water from its source to stores releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.

According to “National Geographic,” Americans drink more bottled water than any other nation, purchasing an impressive 29 billion bottles every year. Making all the plastic for those bottles uses 17 million barrels of crude oil annually.

The recycling rate for those 29 billion bottles of water is low; only about 13 percent end up in the recycling stream where they are turned into products like fleece clothing, carpeting, decking, playground equipment and new containers and bottles. In 2005, that meant approximately 2 million tons of water bottles ended up in U.S. landfills.. Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose and if they are incinerated, toxic by-products, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals, are released into the atmosphere…

More:  http://greenliving.nationalgeographic.com/water-bottle-pollution-2947.html