Is bottled water a problem for the environment?
There are three main issues with bottled water that affect the environment: • carbon efficiency • waste from the bottles going to landfill • where the water is sourced from The production and transportation of bottled water has a significant impact on the environment. With demand for bottled water currently calculated to be increasing at 10 per cent per year, the impact on the environment is also increasing. There are also issues around quality and high costs. The amount of energy and water that is required to manufacture bottled water is significant. Peter Gleick, an expert on water policy and director of a think tank in California called the Pacific Institute, offers a simple way to visualise the average energy cost to make the plastic, process and fill the bottle, transport it to market and then deal with the waste: “It would be like filling up a quarter of every bottle with oil”. It also takes water to make a bottle – a 1L container requires 3L to 5L of water in its manufacturing p
