the-art-of-being-alive:

vegansofig:

The bottled water industry is such a scam. Over the past several decades, it has reached a valuation of around $60 billion. The whole industry rests on two assumptions:

1⃣  Bottled water is cleaner than tap water.

2⃣  Bottle water is convenient.

Unless your plumbing pipes are exposed to metal corrosion, tap water is perfectly safe to drink. Tap water is healthier, more environmentally sustainable, and more ecologically sound than bottled water. In the United States, bottled water often costs up to $3 per bottle, while a similar volume of tap water costs less than one cent.

Most of bottled water costs go into their packaging and marketing and not into the quality of water. Not to mention, most bottled water companies are owned by Giant soda companies:

1⃣  Aquafina: Pepsi.

2⃣  Dasani: Coca-Cola.

3⃣  Arrowhead: Nestlé.

4⃣  “Brita” (the water filtration company) is owned by Clorx.

The biggest problem with bottled water is what happens to the water after you drink it. 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.

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. Plastic bottles take centuries to decompose and if they are incinerated, toxic byproducts, such as chlorine gas and ash containing heavy metals, are released into the atmosphere.

Plenty of water companies use the same tap water sources to fill their bottles, so whatever fluoride concerns they have are not being solved by drinking unregulated bottled water. Unless you have a water testing station in your purse, you have nary a clue about the water quality in your bottled water. On the other hand, municipal governments report on their local water testing, so if you were actually interested, you could seek out this info. I totally sympathize with people who have funny tasting water where they’re from, but as others have noted, there are ways around that. If you have concerns about your tap water, you can always try boiling, filtering, or alkalizing your water. No matter what method you choose, it’s still better than contributing to the shitty bottled water industry. 💨

Final note: Invest in a reusable cup and bring it with you. It’s better for the environment and your pocketbook. #vegansofig

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If you cannot drink tap water for whatever reason you can still chose to use bottles made out of glass. Those are still better than plastic.