Plastic Water Bottles

Plastic water bottles are made out of polyethylene terephthalate, the most commonly used thermoplastic polymer in the world.

How It's Made

• PET pellets drop from a mixer into a plastic injection machine that heats it to 600° F. The melted plastic is shot into a mold where preforms are cast.
• The preforms are sent to a "reheat stretch blow mold" machine where they are reheated. A rod is inserted to stretch the mold where air is blown in at extreme pressure forcing the preform into a bottle shape.

It takes 3 times the amount of water to make a water bottle as it does to fill it.

Producing bottled water uses 17 million barrels of oil a year. That’s a little more than it would take to fill one million cars a year with fuel.

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In landfills:

• Americans buy more than 29 billion water bottles a year.
• Only 1 out of 6 bottles is recycled.
• U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles.
• Do not biodegrade; 1000 years to decompose leaking pollutants into soil.
• Produced with fossil fuels, making them an environmental hazard.

The United States makes up less than 5% of the world’s population, yet we consume more than 25% of natural resources and produce 30% of the trash and pollutants.

Reduce

• Toss your water bottle habit! Replace with reusable stainless steel.
• Purchase a water filter.

Reuse

• Repurpose into useful things such as planters, scoopers, funnels, etc.
• Make arts and crafts projects.

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Recycle

• Plastic at the recycling center is sorted, crushed, and baled.
• A recycler machine shreds it into flakes or pellets that are washed, rinsed, and dried.
• The flakes/pellets are used to make new bottles and other products.

The most effective way to reduce waste is to not create it in the first place.

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