The Newspaper Online
© Andrew Dunk Corporation 2008.
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FEATURED STORY: Thirsty? Turn on the Tap
By Andrew Dunk
We can’t live without water. Well, only for a few days.
When buying bottled water from the vending machine we need to consider the environmental impact.
Do you know about 10% of the drinks sold in Australia are bottled water? Which is weird, because tap water in Australia is monitored closely and filtered if necessary before coming to your tap. Also, fluoride (the same ingredient in your toothpaste) is added.
Every year, in Australia, we buy 410 million plastic water bottles. That’s the same as 20 water bottles for each and every person. And do we waste money. Bottled water costs AUD$4, 000 per kilolitre and tap water costs a low, low, low AUD$1.50 per kilolitre.
So how does bottled water harm the environment?
► Plastic is made from oil. Water bottles are made of plastic.
► When you buy bottled water, think about this: most of the cost is bringing the water to you. And bringing the water to you requires a lot of petrol. (Petrol is up to AUD $1.62 a litre in Australia)
► Despite recycling, most plastic water bottles just get thrown out and will remain in landfill for more than 1000 years.
►There are more than 1 billion plastic water bottles floating in the world’s oceans. How did they get there? By careless people ‘chucking’ them into the rivers and seas.
So, are you thirsty? Turn on your tap.