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Green goddess: Ban plastic water bottles

Get your water straight from the source, not the store.
Ban plastic water bottles

Image credit: Scott Hawkins / bauersyndication.com.au

Changing your water bottle habits can have a positive effect on the environment. Sales of bottled water are worth more than $13 billion a year and 60 to 70% of plastic bottles are unable to be (or are never) recycled.

Here are some things to think about next time you buy a bottle of water:

  • The water used to fill those bottles is depleting valuable groundwater stores. Water is becoming a natural resource we can’t take for granted

  • Plastic bottle manufacturers use fossil fuel oil to make the bottles. It takes ¼ of a litre of oil to produce a 1L bottle

  • Tap water in New Zealand is closely monitored and is just as safe, if not safer, than bottled water

  • If you don’t like the taste of tap water, buy a filter jug or install a filter to your tap at home

  • Purchase a BPA-free bottle and refill it from the tap or filter. Store it in the fridge to keep it cold. I use a glass bottle

  • If you like sparkling water, buy a SodaStream and make your own from filtered water.

There are more than 130 studies which suggest BPA exposure at very low doses is linked to a number of health problems, including prostate and breast cancer, obesity, attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder, brain damage and early puberty.

Image credit: Scott Hawkins/ bauersyndication.com.au

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