I don’t know what made me first notice them. But when I did, I realised that they were everywhere. If I go for a half-hour walk from home, I’ll usually see three or four discarded plastic water bottles.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you’re all drinking so much water; good hydration is important. But when you buy bottled water, you are funding a chain that significantly impacts our environment.
In 2021, UK consumers drank 2.5 million litres, or 10 million bottles of water, per day. That’s a lot of plastic.
This figure is expected to grow 15% by 2027. If those bottles end up in a landfill, and about 25% do in the UK, they will take somewhere between 400 and 1,000 years to break down.
Apart from the environmental impact of all that plastic, there is the carbon produced in trucking that water and plastic around the country.
Our local water company, Southern Water, charges about a third of a penny for two litres of water. If you buy the same two litres from Aldi, you’ll pay 129 times as much. UK tap water undergoes rigorous testing; it is as good as, or better than, bottled water.
Apart from the convenience, there really is no upside to bottled water. It costs more, damages the environment globally, and litters our streets locally.
Reduce, Reuse, Refill: Invest in a reusable water bottle and make a long-lasting impact.
www.refill.org.uk a campaign to reduce single-use packaging.
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