Just the Facts
01/10/2019
- It takes 22 gallons of water to make one pound of plastic which can approximately provide water for a family of four for two months.
- It takes 17 oil million barrels a year to produce water bottles, which is about 20 gallons a barrel. The average home only uses 3650 gallons annually
- Americans use about 50 billion plastic water bottles annually but the US only recycles 23%, that's more than 1 billion dollars worth of plastic waste
- The average American used 167 water bottles and recycled only 38
Plastic water bottles are terrible for the environment
They are not actually recycled (see The Truth tab)
90% of the cost of bottled water is the bottle itself
70% of bottles do not get recycled
38 million plastic bottles go to landfill each year in America alone.
They end up in our oceans
They are not biodegradable
Plastic bottles are made with irreplaceable fossil fuels
Despite what has been taught recycling isn't just placing plastic in a bin