|
April 9, 2008
Campaign aims to cut plastic water bottle waste
By: KATIE McWANE
Emptying a water bottle is great for our bodies, but is it good for our environment?
The Natural Resources Defense Council notes on its Web site the assurance of purity is what caused the boom of bottled water. However, the organization found "bottled water regulations are inadequate to assure consumers of either purity or safety."
The result of the bottled water's rise in sales is now taking a toll on the environment. With this rise, it is important that the younger population get into the habit of recycling, but sometimes in not so easy as a change in habit.
Plastic woes
- 8 out of 10 plastic water bottles used in the United States become garbage or end up in a landfill. (Container Recycling Institute)
- The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 home. But refilling you water bottle from the tap requires no expenditure of energy, and zero waste of resources. (PBS Point of View 2004)
- Making all of the bottles for the US requires more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually. That's enough to fuel 100,000 cars. (Earth Policy Institute)
www.refillnotlandfill.org
"I have recycled my whole life, but unfortunately the last two apartments that I have lived in have not been able to receive recycling bins for their residents from the city," said Kelly Smith, a senior Communications Sciences and Disorders major from Valdosta, GA.
"Refill Not Landfill" is a campaign to reduce disposable water bottle waste. The campaign's website states, "On average, one person uses 166 disposable plastic water bottles each year."
"Plastic is a petroleum based product that takes thousands of years to degrade, if at all. The real problem is that it is an extraction industry that takes a tremendous amount of energy. It has a very limited useful life before it becomes someone's garbage," said Betty McLaughlin, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute.
Smith admits that the problem is constantly nagging at her mind.
"I know I use at least one water bottle per day, and it makes me cringe to think how much waste I am contributing to the environment," said Smith. "I try to recycle when I am on campus, but often times the recycling bins are not as conveniently located as a trash can. This makes recycling difficult."
The University has been attempting to do its part to contribute to the reduction of plastic container waste recently.
The "Physical Plant Support Services Department has collected almost 8,000 pounds of recycled bottles and cans. University housing contributed over 6,500 pounds of recycled bottles and cans during the first five weeks of [RecycleMania]," said the University's website dedicated to going green, gogreen.uga.edu.
RecycleMania was a competition among universities to determine who recycled the most materials before the competition ended on April 5.
It is important to remember that in Athens Clarke County and on the University's campus, only narrow-neck #1 plastic and #2 plastic can be recycled. This is containers with a screw top lid only.
To determine if it is the right kind of plastic, the code can be found on the container. A rectangular symbol will have a number one through seven inside of it. If a one or a two is inside the symbol it is okay to recycle in ACC and on campus.
Common uses of plastic #1 include: water and soft drink bottles, cooking oil bottles, peanut butter jars. Common uses of plastic #2 include: Detergent bottles and milk jugs.
Using plastic water bottles and containers is okay, as long as they are recycled. Recycling helps us to use the resources that have already been extracted from the earth to make new plastic containers using the same resources again and again, said McLaughlin.
http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2008/04/09/News/Campaign.Aims.To.Cut.Plastic.Water.Bottle.Waste-3312694.shtml
|
