Single use plastic is one of the biggest causes of plastic pollution – with plastic bottles being one of the biggest culprits.
Almost one million plastic bottles are bought every minute around the world. Less than half of these will be recycled and the rest will take more than 400 years to decompose in landfill or in the ocean.
According to a Guardian investigation, more than 480 billion plastic drinking bottles were sold in 2016 across the world, up from about 300 billion a decade ago. If placed end to end, they would extend more than halfway to the sun.
While this has dire consequences for our oceans and sea life, experts warn that plastic is already finding its way into the human food chain. Between 5 million and 13 million tonnes of plastic leaks into the world’s oceans each year to be ingested by sea birds, fish and other organisms and those who eat seafood ingest up to 11,000 tiny pieces of plastic every year.
By 2050 the ocean will contain more plastic by weight than fish.
These statistics are stark and a very real result of a shift in consumer habits in recent years with more and more of us reaching for bottled water on the go.
In Ireland alone, an estimated 183 million litres of water were bought in 2017. Recycling methods have improved over the years but they have not kept up with the increasing levels of consumption and most bottles end up in our oceans or landfills.
So what can be done? While big businesses such as supermarkets and drinks companies must take responsibility for the mass production of single use plastics, we as consumers can take individual action to reduce our plastic waste. One of the easiest and most effective ways to do this is to stop buying bottled water!
Fortunately, you don’t have to give up drinking clean, pure water as there are a variety of water filters available that can provide you with exactly that straight from your tap. Not only will you save money and hassle of recycling large quantities of plastic bottles, you will also be reducing enormously your carbon footprint.
As well as saving on plastic waste, our reverse osmosis and standard filters filters also remove micro-plastics from your water.
Talk to the team in Aquaclear.ie to find out what water filter best suits your needs and set yourself free from plastic bottles!