Single-Use Plastic Bottles
Single-use water bottles are a huge problem.
Single-use plastic water bottles are clogging the world’s oceans, rivers, streets, and landfills; they’re poisoning the air when they're burned in incinerators or processed in “chemical recycling” facilities; they’re contributing to microplastic contamination of the environment and human bodies; and they’re emitting greenhouse gases that speed climate change.
And, for the most part, they’re completely unnecessary since about 95% of people in the United States have access to affordable and safe tap water. Each year, 20 billion to 30 billion pounds of plastic enter the world’s oceans, harming wildlife directly and making their way into seafood that in turn introduces microplastics and the chemicals they contain into the human body. While not all ocean plastic is from plastic water bottles, single-use plastic (including water bottles) is a significant source of plastic ocean pollution globally.
Consumption grows while recycling stagnates; deposits can help.
Plastic water bottles are also a significant source of waste in the United States because the consumption of single-use water bottles has increased steadily for three decades, and because the recycling rate for plastic bottles is abysmal. U.S. plastic water bottle consumption has grown from about 3 billion bottles in 1997 to 86 billion in 2021. That’s an increase of nearly 3,000%! The vast majority of these bottles are single-use plastic (#1 PET, or polyethylene terephthalate). And the growth shows no signs of slowing, as single-use plastic water bottles are marketed and offered to consumers not just at grocery and convenience stores, but at sporting and entertainment venues, big-box stores, and ubiquitous vending machines as well. They’re also frequently provided in private and public offices.
Unfortunately, just one-third of all plastic bottles were recycled in the United States in 2023. This is better than the 22% recycled at the turn of the millennium, when recycling infrastructure was still scarce, but it is a far cry from the recycling rates that can be achieved when beverage container deposit laws are passed nationwide.
For example, Germany and Norway recycle 97% of their PET bottles due to their robust deposit systems. In the United States, only 10 states have systems where customers are refunded 5 or 10 cents when they return their used bottles at a grocery store or a redemption center. More than half (56%) of plastic bottles with a deposit are recycled in the U.S., compared to less than a fifth (18%) of plastic bottles without a deposit. Nonetheless, the beverage industry has fought against the proliferation of deposit systems in the United States for decades.
Environmental Impacts of PET Bottles
Ounce for ounce, more energy is required to produce bottled water than tap water. According to the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority, single-use bottled water systems consume between 11 and 90 times more energy than tap water systems. Tap water is preferable to bottled water because energy generation and consumption is a driver of climate change. Bottled water’s overall carbon footprint is 300 to 1,000 times higher than that of local tap water.
In addition, the production of the PET plastic bottles themselves is water-intensive. It is estimated that about 1.4 gallons of water are required to produce a typical single-use PET water bottle. In other words, producing a plastic water bottle requires more than 10 times the amount of water that bottle will eventually hold.
Human Health Impacts of PET Bottled Water
Recent studies have shown that bottled water contains 10 to 100 times more microplastics than previously estimated. A study published in January 2024 found that a typical liter of bottled water contains approximately 240,000 plastic fragments; 90% of these are actually nanoplastics (plastic pieces or fibers of 1 micrometer or less).
Scientists are still trying to determine the health impacts of ingesting microplastics from bottled water and other sources. The micro- and nanoplastics may damage cells directly, and they may be harmful due to a plethora of toxic chemicals that are embedded in the plastic itself, eventually leaching into cells. According to the 2024 PlastChem project, about 16,000 chemical additives are used in making plastics (all types); 4,200 of these are known to be harmful to human health and/or the environment, and even more have not been studied.
Alternatives and Legislative Options
Individuals, businesses, organizations, and governments can all play a role in reducing plastic water bottle consumption and pollution. Individuals can carry reusable water bottles as they go about their daily lives, reducing the consumption of more than 250 plastic water bottles per person per year. Businesses and institutions can make water pitchers available at meetings; schools and office buildings can bring back water fountains; and other public venues can install modern water bottle refilling stations.
For example, in August 2019, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) became the first major world airport to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles in all of its concessions, and installed about 100 water refilling stations in busy public concourses.
In September 2023, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed an executive order prohibiting state agencies from purchasing single-use plastic bottles. In June 2022, the U.S. Interior Department announced plans to phase out single-use plastics on public lands, including national parks.
WONDERING WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Start by carrying a reusable water bottle. It’s better for your health, better for your bank account, and better for the planet. Making this switch can reduce the consumption of more than 250 plastic water bottles per person per year!
If you have to buy a drink, avoid beverages packaged in single-use plastic bottles, opting for glass or metal instead.
If you’re part of a business or an institution, ask the decision-makers to stop buying/using/selling bottled water. Instead, they can make water pitchers available at meetings and install more water fountains and water filling stations. Use our toolkit to ask them to replace plastic bottles in vending machines with glass bottles or aluminum cans. Get the toolkit here.
You can also reach out to ask airports, music venues, and other institutions to stop selling single-use plastic water bottles. If you live in New York or New Jersey, click here to join us in urging the NY-NJ Port Authority to ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles at all their facilities. Along with 40 other organizations, we’re calling on Port Authority to follow SFO’s lead and ban these needless and harmful bottles. Hearing from travelers in their facilities which include LaGuardia, Newark, JFK and Stewart airports as well as their bus terminals is crucial.
5. Another option is to lobby your county executive, mayor, or governor to pass a county, city, or state-wide executive order prohibiting the use of government funds to purchase single-use plastic water bottles. For example:
In 2020, New York City Executive Order 54 directed all city agencies to develop and begin implementing a plan to “eliminate any unnecessary expenditure of city funds for the purchase of single-use plastic beverage bottles in favor of reusable options”) on all city property. The directive included not just water bottles, but all single-use plastic beverage bottles, including soda and juice. In April 2024, legislation was introduced in the city council to prohibit government agencies from buying water in plastic bottles smaller than one gallon.
In 2022, New York State Executive Order No. 22 restricted state agencies from using funds to purchase bottled water, promoting the use of tap water and installation of water bottle filling stations. You may also try to pass an executive order in your state or county prohibiting the use of government funds to purchase single-use plastic water bottles.
GET THE FACTS
Check out our handy Plastic Water Bottles Fact Sheet – available to download as a PDF.
