Plastic Water
Bottle Pollution:
Problem narrative:
The United
States consumes more bottled water than any other country in the world. As a whole, the U.S. purchases over 29
billion bottles every year. In 2006 the
average American went through 30 gallons per person every year, an increase
from 1.6 gallons per person in 1976, according to the Earth Policy
Institute. Only 13 percent of all these
bottles are ever recycled.1 For a comparison there are enough plastic
water bottles discarded every week to wrap around out beautiful planet Earth five
times.2 This plastic can
either be left to decompose, which takes years and years, or incinerated, which
creates byproducts that are released into the atmosphere as an entirely new
type of pollution.1
These water
bottles can cost the consumer anywhere from 240 to 10,000 times more than the
cost of tap water. In comparison tap
water costs only $0.002 per gallon.3
Moreover, water bottles requires millions of barrels of oil per year from
its production to transportation, releasing thousands of tons of carbon dioxide
into the atmosphere. Annually, 17
million barrels of crude oil are used just to produce the bottles; this is
equivalent to the amount of fuel to keep 1 million vehicles on the road for approximately
12 months. On top of all this, 50+ million barrels of oil
are used annually in order to transport, pump, process, and refrigerate these
bottles.1
Behavior over time:
While some attempts have been made to “go
green” and get more individuals to recycle, there has been only a slight
increase. However, there are many more plastic
bottles being produced than recycled, hence the amount being recycled is slowly
decreasing.
In order to produce plastic water bottles, billion of barrels of crude oil
are needed in order to produce, transport, and keep plastic water bottles. As the production of plastic water bottles
increases, this energy required also increases.
Relevance of a systems
perspective:
The issue of
plastic water bottle pollution has been around since the very first plastic
water bottle was produced and commercially used. As plastic water bottles are increasingly
advertised, more and more individuals buy these plastic water bottles. As the production and consumption of these
plastic water bottles increases, the amount of crude oil used and the amount of
plastic water bottles that result in pollution increase. The amount of plastic water bottle pollution
is on the rise and will continue to exist until there are more reusable water
bottles utilized than there are plastic ones and there are just as many plastic
water bottles recycled as there are used.
While there
have been various “go green” activist groups to try and decrease the amount of
pollution from plastic, most consumers of plastic water bottles have not
actively participated in the act of recycling.
Activists are concerned for the welfare and future of our environment; regrettably,
most plastic water bottle consumers are either ignorant to the effects and
amount of pollution or it is “inconvenient” for them to recycle. Water bottle producers have very little
interest in recycling; companies are more interested in making a profit. Efforts have been made to create and advertise
for reusable water bottles and water purifiers.
Unfortunately, these efforts have been mute in comparison to the ever
increasing amount of plastic water bottles that end up in bodies of water,
landfills, and everywhere in-between.
Study objective and questions to
be addressed:
By producing
this analysis on the pollution of plastic water bottles, I hope to catch the public’s
attention in hopes of increasing the amount of recycled plastic bottles. If policy makers are pressured by “go green” activists
and the general public, there may be an increase in recycling. Any increase at all would be beneficial for
the environment. If the government paid recyclers for plastic
bottles, just as they do for cans, could this increase the amount of plastic
water bottles recycled? How much pressure would have to be placed upon
the government to enact recycling policies?
How much pressure would have to be placed on the general public to
recycle more?
