When it comes to plastic pollution, the question must be asked, “Is bottled water making it worse?” 

If you have ever been outdoors, you’ve seen an empty water bottle where it didn’t belong. On the side of the road. In a lake. On a trail. In countries like a Haiti, where relief efforts took off several years ago, a simple rainstorm washes thousands of plastic bottles into the streets and walkways. The point: Plastic bottles are everywhere. They’re being manufactured by the millions and they’re wreaking havoc on our ecosystem. While they provide drinkable water – though whether the water is free from plastic microparticles is another discussion – they aren’t addressing other significant ecosystem crises.

According to ecowatch.com, Americans went through about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year with a dismal 23 percent recycling rate. Add to that an estimated 22 million pounds of plastic that goes into the waters of the Great Lakes each year, you’re looking at a legitimate issue. 

But does the presence of plastic in bottles undo the other efforts being taken to stop plastic from hitting our ecosystem?  

At Filtrol, we recognize the dilemma in front of us. On one hand, water is polluted with plastic micro-particles. The more unfiltered water you drink from your tap, the more plastic you’re consuming. And the jury is still out on how bad plastic is on our ecosystem and our bodies. For this reason, bottled water (assuming it’s tested and doesn’t have any microscopic pieces of plastic) is an understandable alternative to tap water. On the other hand, if our goal is to protect our environment, disposable plastic bottles are clearly taking us in the opposite direction. 

Check out these details and facts about plastic bottles taken directly from Healthy Human, an organization that seeks to build a healthier planet with innovative and eco-friendly products (such as reusable plastic bottles). 

1. It takes 3 times the amount of water in a bottle of water to make it as it does to fill it.
2. Plastic water bottles are made from a petroleum product called polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which requires giant amounts of fossil fuels to make and transport.
3. The production of bottled water uses 17 million barrels of oil a year. That’s slightly more than it would take to fill one million cars a year with fuel.
4. It takes almost 2,000 times the energy to manufacture a bottle of water than it does to produce tap water.
5. If you fill a plastic water bottle so it is about 25% full, that’s about how much oil it took to make the bottle.

So with the dilemma and discussion related to plastic pollution, we recognize that the work in front of us isn’t as simple as a one-size-fits-all solution. The problem of plastic isn’t going away because of Filtrol. It’s not disappearing because of Healthy Human. If this problem is going to be taken care of, it’s going to take a lot of people. It’s going to take innovation, education, and legislation. It’s going to take a change of mind and a change in lifestyle from all of us. 

In the Belly of a Whale

How much plastic is being ingested by sea life? 

In April of 1969, an article was published in The Auk that showed the stomach of an albatross containing indigestible plastic particles. Since then, plastic’s impact on our environment has been on our radar and in our global conversations. 

Every time a load of laundry is done in a home or business, it washes microscopic particles of plastic into the ecosystem. These pollutants don’t break down or get filtered out by treatment and filtration processes. And as these wash through our plumbing and into our water supplies, they’re invading our environment. They pass through filtration and are spit out into rivers and streams, and eventually into oceans. 

How much plastic…exactly?

A good question without a good answer. Advances in industry and innovations in manufacturing have led to the production of synthetic materials that are totally and completely foreign to nature. They don’t deteriorate or break down. The number of plastic particles in our oceans can obviously not be counted. Trillions upon trillions and tons upon tons of them. Truckloads full. 

According to the World Economic Forum, a total of 386 marine fish species have been known to have ingested plastic particles. And the higher on the food chain a sea animal is, the more likely it is that plastic can be found in the stomach of that animal. Sharks, tuna, grouper, and whales are known to eat smaller fish. These smaller fish are eating even smaller sea creatures and ingesting tons upon tons of these microscopic pieces of plastic. So the more organisms and fish that something eats, the more pollutants it’s ingesting. The challenge in these realities is that only about 2% of ocean species have been tested for plastic pollution. 

As the research continues into how exactly this plastic is impacting the wildlife that is consuming it, the efforts are continuing to educate people on why good, plastic-free principles are important. The work is also continuing to reduce the outflow of plastic with disruptive solutions and advances in technology that will filter out these microscopic pollutants. 

Fast fashion refers to the strategy in clothing retail to replicate high cost styles and trends at a fraction of the cost of name brands. Fast fashion does not necessarily mean inexpensive, as some fast fashion brands charge much more for their clothes than others. Their production and manufacturing standards are sub-par, and some of them have a reputation and a history of poor work conditions. The problem with fast fashion brands as it relates to our efforts and our concerns at Filtrol is the massive and devastating impact that fast fashion is having on our environment. 

Consider this:

The cheaper the fabric, the more likely it is that the fabric is made of synthetic fibers. Synthetic fibers are generally not biodegradable. They shed millions of microscopic particles of plastic when they are washed — particles that never leave our environment. They leave our homes and businesses and end up trickling into our water supply and food supply. They are consumed by animals. They are found in fresh water sources, in highest mountains and miles deep beneath the surface of the ocean. They are found in our beer and our cod. They’re everywhere. 

And given the low quality of many fast fashion products, they also don’t last. This means that even beyond shedding fibers, when they run through our laundry, they also have a shorter life and end up in landfills at a much higher rate. 

The summary is this:

– Before you buy, do your research.
– Don’t assume that clothes that look nice on a mannequin in a storefront are nice to our environment.
– Don’t equate affordable fashion with responsible choices.

The more you can research the companies you’re buying from and the more intentional you are about the fabrics you choose to wear, the more you’re going to help protect our environment. At Filtrol, we care about what you wear because we care about our environment. Pay attention to the clothes you buy and be intentional about the brands you choose. Together, we can get back to real water.