WE LIVE IN A THROW-AWAY SOCIETY...
CALCULATE YOUR ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT [link]
GARBAGE ISLAND
THE GREAT PACIFIC TRASH ISLAND
THE WORLD'S RUBBISH TIP
Australians' love affair with bottled water has left environmentalists worried about the toll on the planet.
With 65 per cent of plastic drink bottles ending up in landfill, they are calling for better recycling services.
The popularity of bottled water is rising at a rate of 10 per cent a year in Australia.
About 550 million litres were consumed in 2004-05, according to the Australian Beverage Council, with most purchases being made in addition to soft drinks, rather than replacing them.
The plastic water bottles are becoming a major environmental hazard. They suck up valuable fuels to make.
They also create mountains of rubbish when they are thrown away.
Environmental scientist Tim Grant said it was "counter-intuitive" that bottled water was such a successful product. "People pay $2.50 for something that's free," he said.
A recent report by the Washington-based Earth Policy Institute said global consumption of bottled water rose 57 per cent from 1999 to 2004 to 154 billion litres. Much of the growth came from countries such as Australia, where most tap water is just as high a quality as anything that can be bought.
Packaging worldwide required 2.7 million tonnes of plastic each year, the report's author, Emily Arnold, said.
The manufacture of bottles used up 1.5 million barrels of crude oil in the US because the plastic is made from the fossil fuel, Ms Arnold said.
"In contrast to tap water, which is distributed through an energy-efficient infrastructure, transporting bottled water long distances involves burning massive quantities of fossil fuels," she said.
While driving a car for one kilometre used four megajoules of energy, drinking a 600-millilitre bottle of water used 1.5 megajoules, when the transport costs were included.
By contrast, drinking water out of a tap used only 0.2 megajoules, Mr Grant said. And when they are no longer wanted, water bottles were taking up space in landfill sites.
While Australians are enthusiastic recyclers at home, they don't get the opportunity with bottled water because it's usually bought when people are out at the movies, at the beach or shopping.
"Australia's recycling system does not collect away-from-home waste," Total Environment Centre director Jeff Angel said.
Of the 118,000 tonnes of drink bottle plastic consumed every year, only 35 per cent of it was recycled, he said.
People should bring their own water containers.
"It's like shopping bags, it's the same problem," Mr Angel said.
"There's an argument for people putting their own tap water into containers."
In South Australia, where consumers can redeem a deposit for drink containers, the bottles made up less than 10 per cent of the state's rubbish, compared with 13.4 per cent nationally.
Drink bottles also take up more space than other waste, comprising 38 per cent of total volume of litter. They appear mostly in parks and floating on the waterfront, according to statistics from Clean Up Australia. They are deadly for thirsty wildlife, which get trapped inside containers.
"They are attractive, they catch the light and they are shiny, so little animals see them and get in," Clean Up Australia spokeswoman Therrie-Ann Johnson said.
THE TRUTH ABOUT TRASH
Are you a throw-away-er? Are you aware of what you're doing everyday or do you just... do it? If you, and your generation, interacted with the world in a more 'aware' manner, what impact might this have?
