Say No to Bottled Water
Bottled water is so prevalent nowadays. It’s everywhere in the city. Just try to ask someone near you if s/he has ever consumed bottled water. I’m pretty sure 9 of 10 times the answer is yes. In 1970s, the volume of bottled water sold around the globe was just1 billion litres, and by the year 2000, it had already increased to 84 billion litres(1). Bottled water industrial has expanded enormously over the past 3 decades, and so as the amount of plastic waste produced.
275 million litres of bottled water were sold in Hong Kong in 2008, which is enough to fill the volume of Two International Finance Center(2). Can you image how many plastic bottles we waste each year? Do you know where do they go eventually? How much energy does it take to create one bottle of water? Despite its omnipresence, we actually don’t know much about bottled water.
A recent research shows that the energy needed to produce one bottle of water is up to 2000 times more than that needed to produce the same amount of tap water(3). This is insane, and we still haven’t taken into account the energy required to dispose billions of plastic bottles! If you care about climate change, you definitely need a second thought next time when you are tempted to buy a bottle of water from the convenient store. Bottled water industry is energy intensive beyond doubt. The more energy it takes, the more green house gases it produces, and that eventually speeds up the process of global warming. Save our planet, stop drinking bottled water!
Alternatives?
To go green, you can buy your own reusable water bottle. There are lots of stylish, durable and safe reusable water bottles available on the market. Personally, I prefer a water bottle made of high quality stainless steel because water never smells funny in it.
1) Maude Barlow & Tony Clarke. (2002) Blue gold : the battle against corporate theft of the world's water. Toronto, Stoddart.
2) Dinesh Sadhwani, Jonas Chau, Christine Loh, Mike Kilburn, Andrew Lawson. (2009) Liquid Assets: Water Security and Management in the Pearl River Basin and Hong Kong. Hong Kong, Civic Exchange.
3) Gleick, P.H. and Cooley, H.S. “Energy implications of bottled water.” Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009) 014009 (6pp).
Pacific Institute estimates that the oil needed to produce one bottle of water equals roughly to 1/4 of the bottle's volume.
275 million litres of bottled water were sold in Hong Kong in 2008, which is enough to fill the volume of Two International Finance Center(2). Can you image how many plastic bottles we waste each year? Do you know where do they go eventually? How much energy does it take to create one bottle of water? Despite its omnipresence, we actually don’t know much about bottled water.
A recent research shows that the energy needed to produce one bottle of water is up to 2000 times more than that needed to produce the same amount of tap water(3). This is insane, and we still haven’t taken into account the energy required to dispose billions of plastic bottles! If you care about climate change, you definitely need a second thought next time when you are tempted to buy a bottle of water from the convenient store. Bottled water industry is energy intensive beyond doubt. The more energy it takes, the more green house gases it produces, and that eventually speeds up the process of global warming. Save our planet, stop drinking bottled water!
Alternatives?
To go green, you can buy your own reusable water bottle. There are lots of stylish, durable and safe reusable water bottles available on the market. Personally, I prefer a water bottle made of high quality stainless steel because water never smells funny in it.
1) Maude Barlow & Tony Clarke. (2002) Blue gold : the battle against corporate theft of the world's water. Toronto, Stoddart.
2) Dinesh Sadhwani, Jonas Chau, Christine Loh, Mike Kilburn, Andrew Lawson. (2009) Liquid Assets: Water Security and Management in the Pearl River Basin and Hong Kong. Hong Kong, Civic Exchange.
3) Gleick, P.H. and Cooley, H.S. “Energy implications of bottled water.” Environmental Research Letters 4 (2009) 014009 (6pp).
Pacific Institute estimates that the oil needed to produce one bottle of water equals roughly to 1/4 of the bottle's volume.
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