Do you Know Where your Plastic Bottles End Up?

By Paige Shellhammer '21

January 2019

Eighty percent of plastic bottles end up in landfills after being used. This issue could simply be solved if everybody would buy a reusable bottle that is washable. Not only are you saving space in our landfills and helping our environment, but reusable, insulated bottles will keep your drink warm or cold. They can also be used for more than just water. It takes up to 1,000 years for every single bottle to decompose. While decomposing, the bottle releases harmful chemicals into the air. Plastic bottles are also made out of something that takes a large amount of fossil fuels to make and transport it to where it needs to be. Each second, people in the U.S. open 1,000 water bottles, which means about 60 million water bottles are put in the trash each year. Of the water bottles that are recycled, only 50% of them actually go through the process. So next time you’re about to open a water bottle ask yourself, is it worth it?