Bottled water environmental impact

The International Bottled Water Association issued some encouraging statistics to coincide with Earth Day on 21 April. For bottled water in the United States:

• The average weight of a 50cl PET bottle has fallen to 9.25 grams, under 40% of the 23.9 gram average for soda.

• It takes just 1.32 litres of water to produce 1 litre of finished product, the lowest for any packaged beverage.

• Less energy is required than for any other packaged drink.

• Using recycled PET requires 84% less energy than virgin PET.

• Water cooler bottles are re-used 30-50 times and then recycled.

• The share of beverage containers that end up in landfills is 66.7% glass, 13.3% soda PET, 7.9% aluminium and 3.3% water PET.