50 billiion. 50,000,000,000. Billion with a "B." That's how many plastic bottles are manufactured, used for a moment, and then thrown away each year in the US alone. It's estimated that, at best, about 23% of these bottles are recycled and reused. This means roughly 38 billion plastic water bottles are making their way to your streets, landfills, or worse...beaches.
If these figures are not striking enough to eliminate, or at least curb your consumption of these wasteful things, then allow us to list a few more facts:
Making bottles to meet America’s demand for bottled water uses more than 17 million barrels of oil annually, enough to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year.
The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400!
The energy we waste using bottled water would be enough to power 190,000 homes
One water pitcher filter can effectively replace as much as 300 standard 16.9-ounce bottles. Not to brag, but our pitcher is tested to filter 150 gallons before it needs replacing. That's about 560 water bottles replaced!