If you are anything like us at the Veital team, you are aware of how your actions impact the earth and others and you use reusable water bottles of course. Veital Designs is not only an outdoor company; we’re a lifestyle brand. With that, we have the responsibility to raise awareness about the issues that matter most to us. Issues that unfortunately impact our everyday life RIGHT NOW. Veital Designs navigates in the reusable water bottle space, and for that matter, we are passionate about the problems of sustainability that come with the water bottle industry.
On today’s issue of the Veital Trail Book, we take a closer look at the impact of single-use water bottles. We are diving into the numbers (I know, data is beautiful) and getting a grasp of the situation. Fortunately today, access to information is at arms reach on pretty much any subject imaginable. A quick Google search using the supercomputer in your pocket called a smartphone, and you’re on your way to enlightenment. Or disappointment for that matter.
Not to alarm you, but the amount of single-use plastic bottles used in the US is staggering. Here’s how the numbers break down using an estimate from the sustainability department at Penn State.
Single-use water bottle usage in the US:
42.6 billion water bottles a year
Average per person:
42.6 billion bottles / 327.2 million people = 130.2 bottles per person per year
Breaking down the numbers:
Now, this is Veital Designs. We know that if you’re engaged enough to be reading this right now, you’re probably a tad more conscious about your consumption than the average Joe (Don’t take it personal Joe, you know who you are). Picture this: At 130.2 bottles per person per year, on average, every single human in the face of the United States is grabbing a plastic bottle and throwing it out the window every 2.8 days.
Let’s say that because you’re more environmentally inclined than Joe, you go out of your way to buy a reusable water bottle from Nalgene. [insert link] You use it for the next five years instead of gobbling all that single-use plastic to yourself. Now you have saved yourself, according to Penn State’s Sustainability department, $6180 of your hard-earned cash!
The environmental impact you’d have, however, is unquantifiable. You’ll avoid putting another 130.2 bottles x 5 years = 651 disposable water bottles out in the dump. You’ll have a positive impact on the rate of pollution and allow wildlife and our planet a little leeway.
Embrace the challenge:
Please remember that this a grossly oversimplified version of the numbers for the sake of awareness. In reality, there are people out there consuming hundreds, if not thousands of bottles a year. Just as others are maintaining a no-waste policy in their philosophy, refer to the original Penn State article for a closer look at the data. Every time you grab the next single-use water bottle, consider your decision making and how far below you’ve fallen (and say hi to Joe for us). And if it ever were to happen that your Nalgene water bottle lid breaks, give plastic a break and swing by the Veital Designs store to pick up your very own Nighthawk Lid!
External Links: https://sites.psu.edu/math033fa17/2017/10/10/plastic-vs-reusable-water-bottles/
Check out the Trail Book if you’re feeling lost!
