Plastic water bottles have become a scourge on the planet. They pollute the ocean with plastic. Their plastic debris kills birds, turtles and other wildlife. They cost us consumers way more money than we should be spending on something as simple as water. And they rob local people of their own source of drinking water. They should go the way of the dodo – and become extinct!

TradeMachines.com, a company that helps businesses buy used machinery and equipment rather than brand new (which helps save money and natural resources), has put together one of the best infographics I’ve ever seen about the impact that plastic water bottles has on us and our planet. Here are some key elements from the graphic. I hope you will visit TradeMachines.com to view the infographic in its entirety. Then, share it with your friends, family, and social media communities. Thanks!

Say NO! to Plastic Water Bottles

The oil used to make plastic water bottles could keep 1 million cars running for 12 months!

Plastic water bottles pollute the oceans and threaten birds and wildlife.

Don’t Miss: “Finding Dory Will Be Impossible If We Don’t Stop Trashing the Oceans” 

Enough plastic water bottles aren’t being recycled.

What’s the point? Water in plastic bottles tastes no better than tap water.

What Should You Use Instead?

There are so many alternatives to plastic water bottles now, there’s almost no excuse for buying bottled water unless there’s a pollution scare in your community.

We’ve identified five of your best options here:

Again, remember to take a look at the entire graphic and share it widely. People are so used to buying bottled water, they forget to consider the impacts. You can help, by using a reusable bottle yourself and by educating others.

Thanks to TradeMachines.com for sponsoring this post. As always, our editorial opinions remain our own.

The post Why Plastic Water Bottles Have to Go the Way of the Dodo appeared first on Big Green Purse.

This time, the chemical in question is a compound called hexavalent chromium, or chromium 6. If it sounds familiar, it may be because you saw the movie “Erin Brockovich,” starring Julia Roberts. In the film, based on a true story, Roberts as Brockovich campaigns to protect residents of a small California town whose drinking water has been contaminated by hexavalent chromium. In real life, Brockovich, a legal aide, helps the town residents win a $333 million lawsuit against Pacific Gas & Electric, the company responsible for the contamination.

But that’s not the end of the tale. It turns out, hexavalent chromium persists in drinking water in dozens of American cities, including Bethesda, San Jose, Ann Arbor, Pittsburgh, Albuquerque, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City (note: If your city is not on the list, it might only mean that the water in your city wasn’t analyzed). The toxic chemical is released when plastics, steel, and paper pulp are manufactured; it’s also discharged by leather-tanning and metal-plating factories. It can pollute water when soil and rock erode as well. It exists in our drinking water for two reasons: because companies can release it into the environment without much legal or financial consequence; and because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not currently impose regulations on municipalities to eliminate chromium 6 in our water — or at least, to reduce it to much safer levels.

You can get more information from the answers to this list of frequently asked questions; you can also read the full report on hexavalent chromium here. But don’t just read the report: take action to protect the water you and your family drink! Here’s how:

1) Don’t buy bottled water. Much bottled water comes straight from the same source as our drinking water. It looks healthier because it sports a fancy label touting how “pure” it is – but unless the label also says the water has been tested and proven to be free of hexavalent chromium and other contaminants, you’ll just be wasting your money. Instead, use your purse power to invest in a reverse osmosis filter (see below).

2) Filter your water at the tap. A reverse osmosis filter uses powerful carbon filters to capture a wide variety of contaminants. Some models sit on your countertop next to the kitchen sink; more expensive, under-the-counter options filter more water over time. Here’s a terrific guide that will help you choose a system for your home. Take a look at these models to get an idea of the choices you have and what they could cost. Keep in mind that the common PUR and Brita filters, which do a pretty good job of filtering out sediment and chlorine, DO NOT capture hexavalent chromium. Whatever system you use, remember to change the filter regularly (you can recycle Brita filters here). And don’t just drink filtered water; cook with it, too.

3) Contact your elected officials. Demand stronger regulations to require companies to contain the toxic chemicals they generate, rather than release them for the rest of us to clean up. And support efforts by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and your local water municipality to eliminate or reduce the presence of these toxins in the water we drink. Start by contacting your member of Congress and ask for hearings on water safety in the U.S.

RELATED POSTS: 

“We’re Drinking the Same Water as Cleopatra. Is it as clean?”

“10 No-Brainer Ways to Use Water Wisely.” 

“Bottled Water Not as Safe as Tap Water, Says GAO.”

The post How to Keep Drinking Water Safe for You and Your Family (Bottled Water is Not the Answer) appeared first on Big Green Purse.

1) Give up bottled water. How many reasons do you need? Toxic plastic is used to contain bottled water. Bottled water generates mountains of trash. Making bottled water and moving it around the globe wastes enormous amounts of energy. Bottled water may not be as safe to drink as tap water.  Here’s the real kicker: bottling water wastes water. Two gallons of water are wasted for every gallon bottled. Stupid, no?

2) Give up the idea that you have to drink water all the time. Where did that notion come from, that somehow, your outfit isn’t complete without a bottle of water by your side? I’ve gotten along just fine drinking from drinking fountains and — believe it or not — going for a couple of hours at a time without drinking water. Try it. You won’t die.

3) Filter your water at home. If you’re concerned about water quality, put a filter on your tap and keep water in your refrigerator or in a closed carafe on your kitchen counter or desk top. You can also buy reusable water bottles that come with their own filter. Cheap, good, and trash-free.

4) Take shorter showers. Get in. Soap up. Get out. I bet you can do it in five minutes; ten, max.

5) Use low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators. They’ll increase the pressure coming out of the tap so you won’t notice you’re actually using a lot less water. Get ’em at your local hardware store. Simple, yes?

6) Get a new toilet.

I recently replaced mine with one that’s Water Sense certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (you can see the water sense logo on my toilet tank if you look closely!); if I’d had time to wait a week for a special delivery, I could have gotten a dual-flush toilet that’s even more water-efficient. I loved this water-saving toilet I saw in Australia.

7) Replace your lawn. Grass is weird; in fact, it’s not even natural – really, where in Nature does a monoculture (i.e., just one plant) grow completely weed-free? Nowhere. Give it up in favor of other groundcovers that use a lot less water and require far less maintenance.

8) Stop the leaks. Inside or outside, faucets drip if they’re not tightened properly.  If tightening a faucet doesn’t stop the drip, you’ll probably have to remove the knob and replace an old washer. If I can do it, you can.

9) Wash full loads. This goes for the dishwasher as well as the clothes washer. If you’re going to use all that water, make it wash as much as the machine can hold. And by the way, washing dishes by hand uses a lot more water than doing them in the dishwasher. You don’t need to rinse in advance – just wipe off the grime with a damp sponge or cloth.

10) Turn the water off. Duhhh…Why people still let faucets run when they’re brushing their teeth is beyond me. You don’t need to let the shower run for ten minutes before you get in, either. And you don’t need to let the kitchen tap run while you’re just clearing the table or off talking on the phone. If you like the sound of running water, get a small fountain that will circulate the same water over and over. Otherwise, just let it be.

Bonus: Buy less, and buy used. Manufacturing uses an enormous amount of water. H2O is used to grow crops, process materials, mine minerals, and clean finished products. Every time you buy something, you’re buying the water used to make that thing. Every time you throw something away, you’re throwing our the water used to make it, as well. Buy less, and buy used. You’ll save money, and save water, too.

The post 10 No-Brainer Ways to Use Water Wisely. Plus, a Bonus… appeared first on Big Green Purse.

The report says the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals are “tiny.” But it also points out that “the presence of so many prescription drugs – and over-the-counter medicines like acetaminophen and ibuprofen – in so much of our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health.” Those consequences could include reproductive irregularities, the early onset of puberty, and increasing resistance to antibiotics.

The drugs get into our water in several ways. Since our bodies don’t absorb a hundred percent of the drugs we take, we naturally excrete the excess when we urinate. Many Americans flush unused prescriptions and over-the-counter drugs down the toilet. Wastewater treatment plants do a poor job of capturing these chemicals before the water is either sent back out to its original source or cycled back into a region’s water supply.

The wildlife impact of these pharmaceuticals – which also include narcotics, birth control drugs, and antidepressants  – is reported in Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World. Studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency, notes the book, have found fish, frogs, and other aquatic animals sporting both male and female sex organs, freaks of nature attributed primarily to the rising drug levels being measured in rivers, lakes and streams.

Though the AP report and other studies are likely to fuel the craze for bottled water, they shouldn’t. Much bottled water is actually filled with tap water and is therefore likely to be just as drug-addled.

Instead, consumers should consider installing filters that use activated carbon and ozone, substances that are used in Europe to remove drugs from drinking water.

Meanwhile, consumers faced with disposing of leftover drugs should return them to the pharmacy for proper disposal. Barring this, the federal government recommends mixing them with old coffee grounds, cat litter or other trash that makes them difficult to consume before putting them in a nondescript, sealed container and throwing them in the trash. Do not flush them down the toilet.

It is worth noting that, despite the AP report, pharmaceuticals have been showing up in drinking water for at least 20 years. It is time to upgrade municipal water systems to protect people from the onslaught of chemicals they may be unwittingly ingesting every day. It is also imperative to launch a national “give back” campaign to get citizens to return unused drugs to their point of purchase. Alternatively, cities could mount a “pharmaceutical pick-up” the way many of them now sponsor an annual hazardous waste pick-up.

Municipalities can learn from what environmental organizations are already doing. Last Earth Day (April 21, 2007), the Superior Watershed Partnership in northern Michigan collected over one ton of unwanted pharmaceuticals in just three hours.

The post Drinking Water Contaminated by Pharmaceuticals; Bottled Water Not the Answer appeared first on Big Green Purse.

• According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, it takes 1.5 million gallons of oil – enough to run 100,000 cars for an entire year – to make plastic water bottles. Transporting the bottles, first to the water plant, then to consumers, burns thousands of gallons more.

• For every gallon of water bottled, two gallons of water are used to wash and prepare the bottles.

• Water that goes into bottles either comes from underground aquifers, which are shrinking due to excessive demand, or the tap. In fact, 24% of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke (Dasani) and Pepsi (Aquafina).

• We toss 38 billion water bottles – in excess of $1 billion worth of plastic – into landfills every year.

• In most cases, tap water is actually safer and healthier than bottled water, due to the more stringent federal regulations that protect tap water.

Bottled water is also more expensive than we realize. If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000, says Charles Fishman in Message in a Bottle, a terrific overview of the bottled water in the July issue of Fast Company.

Mary Hunt, at www.inwomenwetrust.com, urges consumers to boycott bottled water, and I’m with her. She thinks we can do it if we switch our “mindset of convenience.”

Actually, switching to your own bottle wouldn’t be so tough. Everyone carries a briefcase, purse or backpack these days; why not add a lightweight bottle you could refill when you got thirsty? Enterprising stores could charge $.25 for a fill-up (the way they charge you for “the cup” when you just get water anyway) and make a ten-cent profit on every “bottle” of water they sold. It would be better – and cheaper – for you to refill your water bottle than to buy bottled water from the store’s refrigerator.

Responsible stores that sell bottled water could also do their part by setting up recycling bins so consumers could bring their bottles back. It might require putting a five- or ten-cent deposit on the bottles to give consumers a little incentive to do the right thing. So be it. Deposits on glass bottles and cans in several states have proven to be effective; let’s extend deposit legislation to plastic bottles, too.

If, despite the fact that U.S. tap water is generally extremely safe to drink, you still worry about the quality, rather than buy water in plastic bottles, get a filter. Some options include:

• So-Clear UnderCounter Perma-Filter – an under-the-sink filtrating system that uses recyclable filters
• Brita On Tap System – a simple system you can mount on your faucet; you can also use the Brita pitcher filter
• Pur Ultimate Pitcher – another easily available pitcher option

You can compare ten different filter options at
•http://www.waterfiltercomparisons.com/Water_Filter_Comparison_Matrix.cfm

You can find some chic water bottles at Kleen Kanteen and Sigg.

Still want to buy your H2O in a bottle? Voss water is sold in a glass bottle in restaurants, health clubs and spas. You’re still paying exorbitant prices for the water, but at least the glass bottle is reusable.

The post Is It Time to Boycott Bottled Water? appeared first on Big Green Purse.