The normal, everyday habits of most of our population show little regard for the environment, and the result is increased pollution and many negative side effects on the environment itself. Many fairly simple habits have serious consequences for the environment. One serious issue for the environment is the use of plastic water bottles.

Water Bottle

Plastic water bottles are often used as an easy way to drink water on the go, but as these plastic water bottle facts will demonstrate, these bottles are doing serious damage to the environment. By better understanding the following plastic water bottle facts, everyone can make a more informed decision to have a positive impact on the environment.

10. Plastic Bottles Pollute our Beaches

Plastic water bottles are one of the main sources of pollution found in common natural areas such as beaches. It is not uncommon to find countless plastic water bottles washed ashore, which poses a serious problem to the natural environments of these areas.

9. Plastic Accumulates in our Oceans

It is estimated that one tenth of all plastic that is created every year eventually ends up in one of our oceans. Plastic water bottles play a major roll in this staggering statistic, and many water bottles eventually end up on the ocean floor.

8. Slow Decomposition

Plastic takes much longer to decompose than many other types of garbage that is typically thrown away. When plastic water bottles are thrown away, they can literally last for years and years before they finally break down.

7. High Clean Up Costs

Plastic water bottles cost tax dollars to get rid of. Nationally, we spend staggering amounts of money picking up after people who have littered public areas with plastic water bottles.

6. Less Incentive to Recycle

Because there is no deposit on water bottles, like there is on pop and some other types of beverage bottles, there is a lower incentive for these containers to be recycled. People are less inclined to recycle plastic water bottles, so they end up getting thrown away.

5. Plastic is Costly to Produce

According to research, 1.5 million tons of plastic waste are created by plastic bottles alone. These wasted plastic bottles required 47 gallons of oil to produce, in just one year. Unrecylced plastic bottles waste valuable nonrenewable resources.

4. Pollution from Creating Plastic Water Bottles

Because so few plastic water bottles are recycled, many new plastic water bottles must be created each year. In production, more than 800,000 metric tons of harmful pollutants are released into the air, just to replace the plastic water bottles that were thrown away.

3. Plastic Waste Adds Up

In 2008, there were over 2,480,000 tons of plastic bottles and other containers that were simply thrown away instead of recycled. Plastic water bottles made up a significant portion of this waste.

2. Low Recycling Rate

Only one out of four plastic water bottles that are bought are actually recycled. This means that 75% of the water bottles that are purchased are just thrown out in the garbage, and are taking up space in our landfills, which are filling up quickly.

1. Plastic Trash is a Serious Problem

Plastic in the garbage is not only an issue because it could have been recycled. When plastic is just thrown away, the plastic absorbs organic pollutants that were already in existence, thus increasing the overall pollution in a variety of ways. These pollutants get into our soil and water, and eventually get into animals' systems when the animals ingest the water.

These plastic water bottle facts should give a further insight into the damaging effects of plastic water bottles. Sharing these plastic water bottle facts will hopefully inform even more people about the importance of recycling and avoiding plastic water bottles. Taking such necessary steps is important to reduce pollution and further assist the environment.

Facts used in this article were gathered from:

http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more/top-facts/plastic-bottle-facts, http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/stories/5-reasons-not-to-drink-bottled-water
http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/51377.html.