Eco Women: Protectors of the Planet!

Boo!  All week long, the Eco Women have been posting about the environmental issues that scare them the most.

Today, Recycla would like to talk about recycling, specifically plastic recycling.  She recently came across information that upset her so much that she ranted and raved like a lunatic.  This is different from her usual ranting and raving, as this had nothing to do with her children, the P.T.O., the jerk that cut her off in traffic, or anything else in her immediate environment.  Oh no, what upset Recycla so greatly was news of a more global nature.

Recycla found out that Americans are sucking a bit with their plastic recycling — especially plastic water bottles.  She read facts and figures that made her blood boil and her heart race. Such as this:

In 2006, Americans drank about 167 bottles of water each, but only recycled an average of 23%. That leaves 38 billion water bottles in landfills.

People, we can do better!

Or, how about this:

Eight out of ten water bottles becomes landfill waste.

That fact alone is bad enough, but when one considers that Eco Warriors like the Eco Women and so many readers of this blog are:

• … not buying water bottles and,

• … recycling them when they do buy them…

…  then the numbers are truly horrifying.  Because that means that other people are raising the averages with their personal consumption and not giving a damn about Planet Earth.

Buying bottled water is incredibly wasteful:

• First, there’s all that plastic.  Plastic that, if not recycled, will take up landfill space and not even begin to decompose for 700 years.
• Second, there’s the financial waste.  Bottled water costs $1-$4/gallon and 90% of that is for the packaging.  Why waste that kind of money during a recession?  Money that you could surely be spending on something more important.
• Finally, there is the other waste.  It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil a year to produce a year’s worth of bottled water.  Oil that could be used to fuel 100,000 cars.

This is very simple:  DON’T BUY BOTTLED WATER!!! Get a reusable one and use it.  It’s easy and you’ll save money in the long run.  Yes, it might take several days to remember to fill it and take it with you, so write yourself a note or do whatever it takes to trigger your memory.

If that doesn’t help you, print out yesterday’s post on the Pacific Ocean’s Dead Zone and try to imagine your personal culpability in adding to it every time you buy a bottle of water.

Thank you for joining the Eco Women this week as they examine the truly scary eco issues.  Join them next week when they return to their usual positive posts and sunny dispositions.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

All statistics courtesy of Earth 911.