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Plastic Water Bottles, Which Enabled a Drinks Boom, Now Threaten a Crisis

WSJ Original article ›
LyrArc Article Gist
Plastic water bottle use surged with a shift to single bottle use of bottled water as a preferred option to using sugar drinks and sodas. In the U.S. this use has surged 284% since 1994, with 67% of the bottled water sold not in jugs but in single use convenience type plastic water bottles. 

Manufacturers of plastic water bottles have failed to come up with a technology that makes the kind of plastic that can be easily recycled. Danone's bottled water company Evian brand makes about 30% of its plastic water bottles from recycled plastic and no aims at shifting entirely to recycled plastic by 2025. 

Images of bottles filling landfills and hurting sealife have led to consumer opposition to their prolific use. Ocean Conservancy says plastic water bottles are behind cigarette butts and food wrappers the thrid most item washing up on shorelines. 

Curbs- Cities in Massachusetts along the coastline are banning their use. New York City is banning the sale in parks, beaches, of these bottles. And the European parliament  is backing laws for member states to collect 90% of these bottles for recycling by 2025. Mumbai has banned this year eater being sold in small bottles. The importance of this is now sinking in.


Action to cut single use plastic bags and packaging 2025

11/27/2024

Efforts to end the use of single use plastics that are a threat to health and the environment, land, rivers and oceans. The use of plastic water bottles has worsened the crisis. Supermarkets are slow in the US to ban plastic bags showing need for prudent regulation. Talks in Busan, South Korea, in Nov 2024 to find a solution to the plastics proliferation crisis. The plastics industry including plastics makers and recycling companies say things are under control with recycling goals, yet reports show only 30% of plastics is being recycled each year in 2024, and going back to the beginning of plastics 2 decades back only about 10% has been recycled.

Grouped Articles

Inside the Plastic Industry’s Battle to Win Over Hearts and Minds

NYTimes.com 11/27/2024

The plastics we breathe

Washington Post 06/10/2024

China Tries to Stem the Flow of Its Plastic Waste

WSJ 01/20/2020

Plastic Water Bottles, Which Enabled a Drinks Boom, Now Threaten a Crisis

WSJ 12/12/2018

New York Businesses Anticipate Plastic-Bag Ban

WSJ 02/27/2020

Supermarkets in France forced to ditch plastic and set up ‘refill stations’ selling unpackaged goods

The Times 04/01/2021


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