This article is rich on outlining the Environmental Impact Of Bottled Water on human life and possible future.
Bottled water may seem efficient to keep us hydrated, but what about uts impact on environment which we completely seem to ignore?
Scientists have claimed that it is unsafe for our environment.
Over the years, we have consumed innumerable tons of bottled water which directly translates to tons of chemicals during manufacturing released on our environment.
This does not go without mentioning, our disposals of empty plastic bottles of water everywhere around us.
This act, comes with a price and today our environment seems to be paying it. The most likely negative environmental impact of bottled water has continued to expand into human life and across the globe.
This is because the manufacturing process involves the use of chemicals, and these chemicals are harmful to the environment.
If this thought is true, what are the environmental impacts of bottled water? Here, we’ll share with you the vital facts you need to know about bottled water and how it affects the environment.
How Is Plastic Bottle Produced? |
Manufacturing process
Plastic bottles are a product of a plastic known as polyethylene terephthalate(PET).
They go through the manufacturing technique known as ‘blow molding.” This “blow molding” process covers three thermoplastic processes: extrusion, stretch, and injection.
An automated mixer combines the PET flakes into the recycled plastic injection machine that heats and melts them into thick liquid plastic.
It then shoots the liquid into a mold that will mold it into a bottle shape.
What Makes Bottled Water Harmful To The Environment?
What makes bottled water harmful to the environment isn’t the water inside the plastic bottle but the manufacturing technique of the plastic itself.
First, the process of bottling water causes wetland depletion, which destroys plants and trees.
Second, disposable bottled water goes into the ocean and causes the death of millions of marine creatures.
Also, the Polyethylene Terephthalate used in manufacturing the bottle takes ages to decompose when humans dispose of the bottles.
Since the bottles cannot decay, it stays long in the soil. The longer it stays in the soil, the more harm it causes.
Level of Environmental Impact Of Bottled Water on Life Quality
The production, transportation, and disposal of bottled water can cause serious harm to the environment and in extension on our quality of life.
It uses plastic — a material that can’t be recycled indefinitely by nature. Sadly, the effect lingers long after we drink it.
Here are ways bottled water is polluting our immediate environment. They include:
- 86% of the bottled water disposed off daily becomes garbage and fills landfills yearly.
- Likewise, over 17 million barrels of oil are needed to produce bottled water according to scientific facts. These 17 million barrels are equivalent to many gallons of fuel.
- Since the production of disposable bottled water uses fossil fuels, it is difficult for humans to escape environmental hazards like global warming, which is fueled by land pollution.
- When humans dispose of empty bottles of water, depending on where and how it may prove destructive to our environment.
- Bottled water contains microbes and other harmful pollutants which affect humans and the environment.
- It takes up to 1,000 years for the disposed bottled water to decompose.
- Due to the chemicals used in manufacturing it, each bottle leaks harmful chemicals into the environment.
- Also, the toxins of the decomposing bottles of water cause health challenges like cancer, which is a threat to human life.
Conclusion
Having now been made aware of the environmental impact of bottled water.
You might want to be more concious on saving the environment in your own little way.
Since, bottled water is recyclable, it can be recycled. But recycling is a culture most countries do not practice.
Plastic waste happen to end up in the wrong places causing severe damage to humans and the environment.
To help reduce the negative effect that bottled water has on the environment, humans should resort to stainless steel water bottles or other renewable materials for production.