Water Filtration & Reusable Bottles – a Remedy for Rubbish |
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Our planet is in trouble. Whether you “believe” in global warming or not, there’s no denying that humans are having a dramatic impact on the environment. A throw-away mentality permeates our society, filling our dumps and threatening our future quality of life. In Britain alone, 434 million tonnes of rubbish are generated each year, says Waste Watch on its WasteOnline website. That rate of rubbish generation is like filling London’s Albert Hall with waste every two hours, the environmental group says. The use of plastic water bottles contributes greatly to this mound of rubbish – something an undersink filtration system and an eco-friendly water bottle could easily remedy. Such a simple commitment to “going green” would have a profound impact on the environment by cutting back on plastics that get tossed in the dustbin, and it would safeguard your health by removing chlorine and other micro-contaminants from the water in your tap. Dustbin Drama While many consume water in bottles for convenience, status and health, the environmental impact is huge. Plastics make up around 11 percent of UK household rubbish – 40 percent of which are plastic bottles, reported Catherine Eade in an article in The Independent in March 2008. It is estimated that we each generate seven times our body weight in rubbish annually. That’s an unattractive picture no matter how you think about it it. The personal kick to your finances is nothing to treat lightly either. Brits run up a £1.68 billion tab on 2.275 billion litres of bottled water annually, notes a Which.com consumer article. That works out to be roughly 75 pence per litre – for the cheap stuff. Designer mineral water or imported water sold in high-demand areas can run you a couple of pounds to quench your thirst! The average household uses 500 plastic bottles a year, reports Recoup Recycling. You do the maths. Glacier Boots the Bottles Tap water is the only real economical and green choice, but still leaves the dilemma of water quality – one of the reasons for turning to the bottled stuff in the first place. While water companies try to meet government standards on water, what comes out of the tap can taste and smell of chlorine and have an unappetizing colour at times. Older homes have lead pipes or plumbing with lead solders in the joints – another real menace to health. What to do? Installing a wholehouse or kitchen filtration system is a valid remedy. A compact Glacier GW3 Undersink water filter, for example, costs £149 initially, but provides 12,000 litres of ultra-clean drinking water over the course of two years. This investment equals an expenditure of 1.25 pence per litre, a huge savings when compared to the cost of bottled water. Get yourself a sturdy reusable to-go bottle and you’ll be set! You’ll be a little greener, a little healthier, and have a few more coins jingling in your pocket. The compact Glacier filter is a smaller version of the GW4, which Glacier Water Systems promotes as its “best family buy.” It can easily handle water demands for food preparation and drinking due to its 45,000-litre production capacity over the course of three years. For only £72 per year, it filters out chlorine, and hundreds of other contaminants that can affect the taste, odour and clarity of the water, as well as your health. The 2008 UK Bottled Water Report determined 134 water companies were operating in the UK, marketing 165 bottled products, reports Just-drinks, a beverage industry website. That involves a lot of plastic. It also indicates a large consumption of fossil fuels for transportation and manufacturing of packaging. Did You Know? “One recent study calculated that the bottled water industry in the UK generated annually about 33,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions through transport,” reported The Independent. That’s “equivalent to the annual energy consumption of 6,000 homes.” Janet Larsen of the U.S. Earth Policy Institute agrees. “Transporting water around the globe involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels and thus emitting greenhouse gases and other pollutants into the atmosphere,” she said. WasteOnline estimates “that 4 percent of the world's annual oil production is used as a feedstock for plastics production and an additional 3-4 percent during manufacture.” A Call to Action It’s hard to read those statistics and not act. Our global community and social responsibility demand that we look at our lifestyles and take steps – even baby steps at first – to reduce our personal impact on the environment. Reducing, recycling and rethinking are lifestyle changes that are imperative for present quality of life and for future generations, experts say. So how eco-friendly are you? A Carbon Trust study calculated that the annual carbon footprint of the average Briton is 10.92 tons of CO2. To calculate your family’s carbon footprint, go to: • http://www.independent.footprint.wwf.org.uk (Link to these websites) • http://www.google.co.uk/carbonfootprint For more information about household water filtration systems, go to: |
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