Recycleable Water Bottles

Written by Donna Loudon

We all hear about the importance of recycling. Knowing doesn't always mean doing. It has been estimated that only ten percent of recyclable water bottles are actually recycled. The rest go straight to our land fills. Since it can take over 1,000 years for these bottles to biodegrade this presents a serious problem for us today as well as for the future of our planet.

Just imagine if we drink only one bottle of water a day. That amounts to 365 bottles a year. Multiply that by all the water drinkers on this planet and we have land fills full of mountains of empty water bottles that are going to take a very long time to bio-degrade.

Possible solutions

1. Recycle the water bottles you use

2. Use a multi-use water bottle, such as Tupperware's Sports Bottles. You can purchase one for less than $15 and since they have a lifetime warranty, we don't have to worry about seeing them in landfills.

3. When home, use glasses or tumblers for water. Buy your water in bulk either in large gallon bottles or from a water delivery service, such as Sparklett's or Arrowhead.

We are encouraged to drink eight glasses of water a day for our health. Let's not do this at the risk of harming our planet for future generations.

Earth friendly disinfectant

Greener disinfecting agents

Store bought disinfectants used in cleaning can contain all sorts of nasty chemicals, some of which should really only be used in controlled settings such as hospitals.

The reason for this is that when used around the home inappropriately, they can actually help bacteria become resistant to the chemical, creating superbugs.

The heavy duty disinfectant artillery should be left to health professionals as a last line of defense. As has been noted in the case of staph, the excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics has created super-strains which are now resistant to practically *all* antibiotics.

Some of the chemicals used in commercial preparations can also have a negative effect on aquatic life as water treatment facilities can't filter them out.

A chemical of particular concern is triclosan. Used in everything from bar soaps to toothpaste, it can also be found in some commercial disinfectants. According to Beyond Pesticides, researchers who added triclosan to river water and shined ultra violet light on the water found that between one and twelve percent of the triclosan was converted to dioxin.

In a U.S. Geological Survey study of 95 different organic wastewater contaminants in U.S. streams, triclosan was one of the most frequently detected compounds.

Greener disinfecting alternatives

Making your own environmentally friendly disinfectant is very cheap and extremely quick to do using just eucalyptus oil and water.

Simply mix 1.6 oz of eucalyptus oil with a litre of water. Be sure to shake well before use and use as you would a store bought disinfectant.

Not only will you have a greener disinfectant, but by making your own, you're more likely to use the same container, therefore cutting down your plastic consumption.

Eucalyptus oil is amazing stuff and you'll see it mentioned regularly throughout this site. I've read that European doctors used to use eucalyptus oil to disinfect and sterilize their equipment. Do be careful when handling eucalyptus oil as it's quite potent and can cause skin irritation in it's undiluted form.

Here's another disinfectant recipe if you're not particularly fond of the smell of eucalyptus:

Grapefruit Seed Extract Disinfectant Spray

Ingredients:

1 gallon warm water
20 drops grapefruit seed extract
Mix and pour in a spray bottle

That's it!

Some other earth friendly disinfecting agents:

- Vinegar with a few drops of essential oil to mask the smell.

- 3% Hydrogen peroxide

- Grain alcohol mixed with 30% water to stop it from evaporating too quickly (or even cheap vodka!)

If you have some earth friendly disinfectant tips you'd like to share; please add them below!



Michael Bloch
Green Living Tips.com
Green Living Tips is an online resource powered by renewable energy offering a wide variety of earth friendly tips, green guides, advice and environment related news to help consumers and business reduce costs, consumption and environmental impact .