Plastic bottles - there are alternatives

When it comes to plastic bottles, there are alternatives but why would we need them?

A little bit of history

Over the years, we have developed technology that makes our lives easier. It's only natural for the human race to do this. The Romans built roads to make it easier to get around their empire. Leaping on through history, the advances made in the industrial revolution in the UK meant that many in the population moved into the cities to take advantage of the work on offer.

And leaping forward again, these days we all lead such busy lives that convenience is of prime importance, but there are always consequences.

It is simple to pop to the shops to buy a plastic bottle of drink, along with your lunch for the day, but what is going to happen to that bottle?

According to Recycle Now: “It is estimated that an average of 35.8 million plastic bottles are used every day in the UK, but only 19.8 million are recycled each day. This means there are on average 16 million plastic bottles a day not making their way into the recycling bin.” 

Just take moment to think about this

So, while more than half do make it into the recycling system, 16 million don't, each day.

Do you know how long it takes to count to that figure? Well, we checked that out and with a quick calculation, or if you are being thorough, a slightly slower one, it would take around six months to get to that figure, if you counted at a rate of one per second. And that ignores the practicalities of saying the larger number within the space of a second and the need to eat and drink.

And that is just one day's worth of plastic bottles that aren't being recycled. If you had taken those six months, without a break, to count the bottles, the pile left still to account for would have risen to more than 2,960,000,000. 

Plastic bottles - there are alternatives

In the UK, high standards are expected for water quality and in the vast majority of cases these are met. In the most recent reports, according to Water UK, compliance with the strict standards is met in more than 99 per cent of cases, right across the country.

So what is the alternative to buying a plastic bottle of water? You need to be slightly organised, but just fill up your reusable bottle each time you are at a tap. The water's great and you don't need to add to that plastic mountain.

Further reading

To read more about what Recycle Now has to say, click here.

Water standards are exceptional in the UK. Click here to see what Water UK has to say about the country's world class drinking water.

To buy a stylish, reusable water bottle, visit our product pages, or just click here. It's that simple - click, buy and reduce your plastic use.

To read more blogs from Swizzle and friends, click here.