Last Updated on 18th August 2021 by Charlie Walsh
Plastic bottles can hurt me?
Sure, haven’t you seen those viral YouTube videos of the warehouse accidents involving thousands of bottles of water and some unlucky warehouse manager having the worst day of his life? Ok ok…We both know that is not what we are talking about. Those kind of things happen rarely and thankfully so, we are talking about something much more sinister. Most of us feel we are actually helping our overall health when we grab a bottle of water – especially those ones that claim to be packed full of life giving vitamins and minerals found in the secret youth
spring only the manufacturer has access to (or has ever seen!) But what if number 1 those claims were not true and number 2 the toxic nature of the plastic itself was affecting your health.
It’s a conspiracy theory
Most of us will be aware of the claims the government are adding so and so to make us all stupid, or require medical help (that costs money) but actually in some cases there may be a half-truth this – we are talking about the quality of water, not that you are actively being poisoned. For some people it may actually be a case that drinking bottled water any be safer for you, we don’t dispute this. But there is also a major shout in the direction of bottled water be less healthy for you than tap water, especially in countries with great infrastructure surround there water works and how they handle and distribute water.
So what is the big deal?
Nowadays, plastic is everywhere and people have started to talk about how it is seriously affecting the planet. Plastic literally destroys our planet…..and your body too. The thing is there are other chemicals contained in the plastic itself that can seep out when the bottle is heated up in the sun or begins to degrade over time. The bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate also known as PET. During the production process, toxic chemicals are produced into the air – nickel, ethylbenzene, ethylene oxide, and benzene. Studies show that those chemicals cause endocrinal diseases but scientists still do not know exactly what kind of health problems people can have because of plastic…
Plastic is one of the biggest footprints that the human being has ever left on the world. We can still remember a time when you would go shopping with your own cloth bag and buys veggies, eggs, milk in a glass bottle in the small local market straight from the farm. Now, our generation produces millions of tonnes of plastic. You only need a minute to drink a bottle of water but the bottle needs hundreds of years to be completely degraded. One way to help is to have your own reusable bottle and drink tap water. That is the easiest and healthiest way not only for you but also for our environment as well. The new reusable durable bottles are BPA-free or you can buy a stainless steel reusable bottle.
Money and costs
When you are at the shop and buy a bottled water, you probably see that it’s spring water. No, it’s probably just tap water that was filtered in some way. In fact what you’re getting is often just tap water that’s been filtered or purified in some way. So it means that you pay for something that you have for virtually free, let’s say, in your own tap. It’s not only about your money but also the fact that bottled water uses lot of energy during the whole process of production. Stocking the water properly, production of water bottles, filling them, shipping them, and taking care of the temperature. Bottled water production takes almost 2000 times more energy than the water sourced from your own tap.
To sum up, you should consider reusable water bottles and try to change a bit of your lifestyle as well to take care of our planet. Bottled water can be useful when your local water supply is damaged but we believe that should be the only moment when you should consider it. Nowadays, you can refill your reusable bottle almost everywhere. A lot of restaurants, pubs and coffee shops offer free tap water and even their own reusable water bottles or cups. Bottled water is bad for your health, our environment, your pocket and adds to the greenhouse effect.
