Problems With Soft Plastic Water Bottles

America's obsession with drinking bottled water has hit its peak, with many contending that our nation's use of soft plastic bottles has gone too far. Indeed, a number of problems are associated with plastic water bottles, and knowing them may help in coming up with a solution.

Price

• An obvious problem with plastic water bottles is the price -- though they are rather inexpensive to produce, the cost -- environmentally and economically -- adds up over time, especially when compared with using ordinary tap water, which doesn't have the added "eco costs" of a bottle or transportation to market.

Plastic Classification System

• Plastic bottles are identified with a recycling number ranging from 1 to 7, which can be found on every plastic bottle or container manufactured today. This helps consumers understand how readily recyclable the plastic is (on a scale from 1 to 7, with 1 being the most recyclable) as well as possible hazardous effects (if any) associated with different types of water bottles.

Chemicals

• Some plastic bottles contain the chemical BPA (bisphenol A), which has been shown in tests to cause infertility and even cancer in animals. Because the FDA has declared that BPA is not harmful to humans, however, plastic bottles containing small levels of BPA continue to be produced every day.

Environmental Impact

• Plastic bottles are manufactured using non-renewable petroleum products, so production depletes our nation's resources. Furthermore most plastic water bottles are not recycled and end up further cluttering our landfills.

Alternative to Plastic Water Bottles

• If you absolutely need a bottle of water wherever you go, you may want to consider the new line of refillable stainless-steel water bottles, produced by a variety of manufacturers and available in large grocery and drug stores.