If It Is Thursday It's Going Green

Recycle your water/sports bottles.

Buy a recyclable water bottle instead of plastic one-use water bottles. Recyclable water bottles will save you quite a lot of money in the long run, as most designer waters are very expensive.

Many individual 16-ounce designer waters that include minerals and vitamins are now over $2.00 a bottle. These outrageously overpriced waters are unnecessary, as you can obtain all your vitamins and minerals by eating a sensible diet along with taking a daily multivitamin.

Did you know that according to the Container Recycling Institute only 23% of plastic bottles are recycled in the US? 38 billion plastic bottles go into landfills in the US each year. Plastic bottles take up to 1000 years to biodegrade. I recommend these two recyclable water bottle companies: Sigg and Klean Kanteen.

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This article appeared in today's news:

Australian Government jumps on bottle ban bandwagon

Updated Wed Jul 8, 2009 4:40pm AEST

New South Wales Premier Nathan Rees has ordered all State Government departments and agencies to stop buying bottled water, following swiftly on plans for a small-town ban.

The measure comes hot on today's news that the NSW Southern Highlands town of Bundanoon is set to become the first community in Australia to ban the sale of bottled water.

Mr. Rees already ordered all ministerial offices in Sydney's CBD to make do with tap water when he took on the top job last year.

He has today extended that instruction, saying the State Government should lead by example.
The Premier says the move will save taxpayer money and help reduce the impact on the environment of producing and throwing away plastic bottles.

Residents in Bundanoon are meanwhile preparing to vote on their town's plan to ban local shops from selling plastic bottles of water at a community meeting tonight.

Local businesses in the town of 2,500 people are proposing to replace the bottles with reusables and then offer directions to filtered water fountains that will be installed on the main street.
Mr. Kingston believes there will be widespread support for the plan. "I think there is an overwhelming opposition to the marketing scam that is stilled bottled water," he said.

Other cities around the world have taxed bottled water and have put in place measures similar to the ones Nathan Rees has announced today.
Environmentalist Jon Dee from activist group Do Something believes Bundanoon could be the first town in the world to ban bottled water entirely."Huge amounts of resources are used to extract, bottle and transport that bottled water, and much of the package ends up as litter or landfill," he said.
"Environmentally, it makes no sense and what we are trying to do in Bundanoon is show that a community can live without single-use bottled water."

Mr. Dee, who was behind the campaign that saw plastic bags banned in the Tasmanian town of Coles Bay, says other towns around the country would not find it hard to follow Bundanoon's lead."If Bundanoon can ban bottled water, many other towns and communities around Australia will also consider their usage of bottled water," he said.

"At the very least, if they don't ban it, then at least they will reduce their usage of it and in doing so, reduce the half-a-billion dollars a year that Australians are spending on bottled water."

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Why not take some action? Start in your home, workplace, community, state, nationally and even globally.

If you live in a country with potable water that comes out of the faucet,

STOP BUYING BOTTLED WATER!

photo by (ABC News: Giulio Saggin)