Connor BrookeWith the start of summer upon us, have you planned out your vacation yet? Some of the best summer spots are the beautiful national parks we have all across the country. With more than 400 parks in every state of the union, there are many great options.
The National Park Service (NPS) has been taking care of our country’s parks since 1916. Last year, it rolled out a new initiative – its “Green Parks Plan” – to more sustainably manage the landmarks by reducing energy and water consumption, adopting greener transportation and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. This past Earth Day, NPS announced that it diverted 28 percent of municipal solid waste since 2007, due in part to a growing number of parks stopping the sale of bottled water.
Americans throw away 38 billion water bottles a year – more than $1 billion worth of plastic – which could take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade in our landfills. According to the Container Recycling Institute, 85 percent of plastic water bottles end up in the trash, even though they are made of recyclable material.
One park in particular – the Grand Canyon – said that bottled water accounted for 20 percent of its overall waste stream, or more than 500 tons of waste, until it phased out bottles last year. Fourteen other parks have followed the Grand Canyon’s example with more considering the move thanks to efforts led by Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle campaign, which supports organizations and individuals in switching from bottled water to tap.
Beyond just the environmental impact, bottled water also has a negative impact on your wallet. The cost per gallon of bottled water is even higher than the cost of gas (even on Memorial Day Weekend!). Over the course of a year, if you drank the recommended eight glasses of water a day from the tap, it would cost far less than a dollar. Compare that to $1,400 you would need to get your daily allowance through bottled water. Just think, if you followed the NPS’s lead and switched now, by next Memorial Day you would have enough savings to pay for the family’s next national park vacation!
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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Look again and I think you’ll find that the “plastic bottles accounted for 20 percent of its overall waste stream” includes “recycling.” No wonder consumers are confused when groups such as Corporate Accountability International (CAI) refer to “recycling” as “waste.”
Bottled water has the lightest carbon footprint and water use ratio of all packaged drinks. And all bottled water is packaged in containers that are 100 percent recyclable.
According to the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), now at 38.6%, the recycling rate for single-serve PET plastic bottled water containers more than doubled between 2003 and 2011. And Beverage Marketing Corporation (BMC) data shows that between 2000 and 2011, the average weight of a 16.9-ounce PET plastic bottle declined 47.7% to 9.89 grams, saving 3.3 billion pounds of PET resin since 2000.
The focus should be on promoting stronger recycling programs. Few people understand that in the U.S., demand for recycled PET actually outstrips supply. We actually import post-consumer PET plastic bottles from other countries just to meet the demand for recycled PET products in the U.S.
Also, as a popular retail food product, bottled water is available at many differing price points. When alluding to differences in cost between tap and bottled water, opponents typically cite retail prices from convenience or drug stores, where bottled water prices are typically higher. However, according to BMC, the average wholesale price per gallon of domestic non-sparkling bottled water was $1.22 in 2011. BMC also notes that research shows consumers most often tend to buy bottled water in bulk from supermarkets or large discount retailers as they often prefer to purchase bottled water in cost-saving volume.