Some thing I have been actively working on this year is my plastic bottle usage. Last year while living in the dorm I went through at least four bottles of water every day. This adds up to a lot of unnecessary plastic waste. This year I have been really trying to cut back on all my plastic usage but mainly my plastic bottle usage. I have been trying to live more sustainably with small changes in my life. Plastic bottles are not only bad for our environment but they are are also an unnecessary cost when you can just drink tap. I use a Brita to filter my water from the tap and fill up my hydro flask so that I am no longer using plastic bottles. I always make sure that I have a reusable bottle with me so I do not have a need to buy anything in a plastic bottle.  

Did you know that thirty eight billion water bottles, which is over 2 million tons, end up in U.S. landfills each year. “Bottled water hold the 2nd largest share of the beverage market in the U.S., ahead of milk and beer. The only thing Americans guzzle down more than bottled water is soda, which is consumed about twice as often (Rebecca Lake)”.Plastic waste washes into the ocean and kills 1.1 million marine creatures every year. I looked up an estimate of about how much money people spend on water bottles each year and I was shocked. In a year most people spend almost $2,000 on water bottles. If you replaced the plastic bottles with a Brita you would twenty six times more on bottles than a Brita. By using reusable bottles it is a less wasteful and more cost-effective alternative than using plastic bottles. It helps lower the amount of waste in landfills, reduces the harmful chemicals, and helps protects animals and the habitats. In the United States alone we used 1,500 plastic water bottles every one second! After producing bottled water in a year it takes seventeen million barres of oil. The plastic in the bottles has toxins in it. When theses bottles go into the ocean it lets toxins into the water. These toxins have been linked to health problems in humans, like cancer. Plastic is not biodegrade and never will be even when it is in its smallest form. 

I haven’t really had struggles with the switch besides when I travel. Over spring break I was flying and I had to buy a plastic water bottle in the airport. Other than that I have found it easy to just use my reusable water bottle. I definitely think that I will stick with this because it is better for the environment and it’s a simply way to make a small change in order to help the environment. It also would help me save money and be better for my own health. I think if others want to make this change they should buy reusable water bottle with you and carry them at all times. If you have it with you all the time there is never a need to buy something that is in a plastic bottle.