Why Recycling Plastic Bottles is Important


If you are paying any attention at all, no doubt you have heard or read all kinds of new information about recycling plastics. Not only is plastic recycling all over the news, the emphasis seems to be on recycling plastic bottles. A lot of people don't see how one little bottle in the trash could be creating the issues that so many environmentalist and other experts are talking about. That's because it isn't always clear actually what kind of numbers we are talking about. Instead of looking at the use of just one person, it's crucial to look at the entire population as a whole. If you are wondering why recycling plastic bottles are such a big deal, take a look at some of these facts.

It's not going to come as a surprise to anyone that the people of this country are consumers. It's been that way since the Industrial Revolution and shows very few signs of slowing down now. With that said, it is estimated that in 2006, Americans drank an average of 167 bottles of water. Doctors are always encouraging proper hydration, so that's good news, but the bad news is only about 23% of those plastic bottles ended up in recycling bins. If you are good at math, that adds up to about 38 billion plastic bottles just hanging out in landfills. Of course, those numbers don't touch the plastic bottles from soft drinks and other sources.

Another piece of information that isn't shocking to anyone is that gas and oil prices are currently at an all time high. You might be wondering what that has to do with recycling plastic bottles. Plastic bottles manufacturing takes about 1.5 million of barrels to produce from virgin plastics for a year. If everyone or even just a few more people would stop using or recycle plastic bottles, that oil could be used for keeping America's cars and trucks going. It is estimated that the 1.5 million gallons of oil can run 10,000 cars annually. It certainly seems worth saving.

Recycling plastic bottles might not seem that important until you break it down into numbers everyone can understand. The simplest methods for helping out are either making it a point to recycle all of your plastic bottles, or finding ways to not use them in the first place. Fortunately the plastics made for these kinds of bottles are easily recycled and every recycling center that deals with plastics will accept them. It's also a good idea to invest in reusable bottles for your water and beverage needs.