I was out and about today and noticed the incredible number of water bottles that made it into the trash cans.  Green and environmentally friendly this is not.  However, it is excellent compared to tossing the plastic bottles into the street or at the side of the road.

Nevertheless, it takes decades, I have read estimates at over 100 years, for plastic bottles to decompose back into the earth.  Wow, that is a great many bottles for a long time. Let’s assume that each person in an area, say 50,000 residents, consume one bottle of water every day and starts with a new bottle in the morning.  Just 350,000 bottles a week and 18,250,000 bottles per year.

Assume that a bottle is 8-inches long and and just over 2-inches wide, of course I had to measure it, that is about 0.02 cubic feet of space.  Now we can crush each one and assume it is 25% of the original size, reducing the landfill to only need just under 85,000 cubic feet of space.  That is like a house that is 100’x100’ with 8-foot ceilings being filled every yea r.  It would stink to be the designated house for 2010.

So what is the point.  take your bottles home each day during the week.  Be sure to wash them out with soap each night and then fill them with your favorite refreshment.  This has two benefits, first we are reducing the amount of plastic in the landfills by about 85%, and only need a new “Bottle House” every 7 years.

Better still is the fact that you can make your favorite drink, even water, using a filter system, like Britta or PUR, using your own Eco Friendly Bottle which will guarantee that your water is filtered.  There are some rumors that maybe not all bottled water is exactly what we think it is.  This approach is also much cheaper than buying the bottles.

“Health Advocates recommend not reusing bottles made from plastic #1 (polyethylene terephthalate, also known as PET or PETE), including most disposable water, soda and juice bottles. According to The Green Guide, such bottles may be safe for one-time use, but re-use should be avoided because studies indicate they may leach DEHP—another probable human carcinogen—when they are in less-than-perfect condition.”

My final thought is to use a cool custom container that expresses your personality .  There are many great choices and designs that will keep liquid hot or cold and you are much less likely to lose or “misplace” it into a garbage can.  If this all feels too constraining, at least use the recycle bins, that way the plastic has a real chance of being reconditioned for another use.

Greenist.