I did some further reading regarding the plastics used in our culture. I would venture to guess 95% of people are like me....they have no clue what that bottle they just purchased is constructed of. I am going to refer to one website as a resource. Honestly, I can’t vouch for their veracity and true knowledge but it seems reliable.
There are 7 different categories of plastic containers indicated by the number with the “chasing arrows” symbol found on the bottle.
1. Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) - water bottles...should not be reused as it could leach carcinogens.
2. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) - milk jugs....safest form and commonly recycled.
3. Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) - plumbing applications......not commonly recycled.
4. Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) - grocery bags......used by a lot of people for collecting household trash and not recycled.
5. Polypropylene - five gallon buckets and cereal liners....pretty safe to reuse. Doesn’t get recycled much.
6. Polystyrene - clam shell “to go” boxes at restaraunts....not recycled and almost all end up in the landfill.
7. Polycarbonate- and a whole hodgepodge of catch all plastic mixes. A real unknown group.
http://learn.eartheasy.com/2012/05/p...y-the-numbers/
So I started wondering what those “eco friendly” water bottles are made of. I mean, I fork out extra money to buy the high end stuff because they have a green cap and the company wants to save the planet.
Aquafinas “Eco-Fina” is simply a bottle that has thinner walls than it used to so they can claim they use less plastic in its manufacture. It’s still the same plastic. What it does is save the company money in manufacturing as they designed the bottle with more ridges that stiffen the bottle.
Dasani - Coca colas entry into the love the planet contest. This bottle is made up of 70% PET and 30% plant material. The plant material is sugar cane and molasses. That’s fine but what does the increased demand for sugar cane do to the countries that grow it. Do they cut down more trees to make room for sugar cane production? I’m not sure that’s a good model going forward.
Then I got to regretting being involved in the whole bottled water consumption deal. After all, I’m getting municiple water from some other location that takes three times the amount of water to get in the bottle by the manufacturing process, involves trucking it all over the country, requires petroleum products as a delivery system, is a health threat if it remains too long in the bottle due to leaching, sits in a landfill forever (maybe it can get reclaimed someday). I have to haul it from the store home and use up valuable storage space on my shelves. AND....I am paying premium prices for something that is already delivered to my faucet.
Yesterdya, I purchased two 500 ml aluminum thermos. One for me, one for wifey to take in her lunch bag. These keep hot and cold liquids at temperature for 12- 24 hrs. Cost- $16. My transition plan is to use gallon jugs of water until I get the home water tested. Once the quality is assured, then move to completely tap water.