Should Bottled Water Be Banned From Schools
Did you know that more than one billion bottles of water end up in California’s landfills each year, taking 1,000 years to biodegrade and leaking toxic additives such as phthalates into the groundwater? Bottled water should be banned from schools all across the U.S. because studies have shown that only about 14% of bottled water makes it to the recycle bin. The other 86% are left to be littered, wasted, landfilled, or incinerated.
Bottled water can be found in classrooms by students or teachers. Teachers probably have no problem throwing their bottles into the recycling bin, but students on the other hand either don’t care or don’t notice the difference of throwing the bottled water into the trash can than the recycling bin. Students would
be better off having a refillable metal bottle than a plastic bottle. The CRI tracks the number of squandered drink jars and plastic containers that go into U.S. landfills with a moment-by-moment tally. The total this year indicates more than 64 billion squandered jars and containers! Making the plastic for bottles promotes fossil fuel usage which can add to the already vast amount of CO2 and can cause global warming.
People can say that bottled waters are more convenient than refillable water bottles. This is true, but the bottled water cost money every time you need a bottle and the refillable bottle is a one-time payment. So buying a refillable water bottle will save you money in the long run. Bottled water also makes a lot of noise which in the classroom environment can be very distracting to peers. The plastic in the bottled water can also pose a threat to our health because of chemicals in the plastic. A chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) which seeps into the plastic container and is more of a risk if stored in hot areas where direct sunlight is present.
Bottled water can be found in classrooms by students or teachers. Teachers probably have no problem throwing their bottles into the recycling bin, but students on the other hand either don’t care or don’t notice the difference of throwing the bottled water into the trash can than the recycling bin. Students would
be better off having a refillable metal bottle than a plastic bottle. The CRI tracks the number of squandered drink jars and plastic containers that go into U.S. landfills with a moment-by-moment tally. The total this year indicates more than 64 billion squandered jars and containers! Making the plastic for bottles promotes fossil fuel usage which can add to the already vast amount of CO2 and can cause global warming.
People can say that bottled waters are more convenient than refillable water bottles. This is true, but the bottled water cost money every time you need a bottle and the refillable bottle is a one-time payment. So buying a refillable water bottle will save you money in the long run. Bottled water also makes a lot of noise which in the classroom environment can be very distracting to peers. The plastic in the bottled water can also pose a threat to our health because of chemicals in the plastic. A chemical called bisphenol A (BPA) which seeps into the plastic container and is more of a risk if stored in hot areas where direct sunlight is present.