What really happens to all these bottles of water?

[Shmuley]

Plastics in late 2018. Other types of recyclables it continued to accept up until late 2021. Malaysia and India increased their acceptance rates of western recyclable shipments. The problem remains, however, with non-acceptance of "contaminated" material resulting in rejection of entire shipping containers.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

People are conditioned to trust the safety of bottled water over tap water now. I don't want to alarm you but pollution due to car rider line is probably at an all time high as well because little Timmy is too precious to ride the bus.

 

[horshack.sixpack]

Nope. Jackson water has been brown forever, even when not under a boil notice. I've flushed the toilet before using it because it looked like it needed flushing only to find that it was just that color by default.

 

[Smoked Toag]

Wow I bet you felt bigger and better after you called her a piece of ****!

I can only hope it made her think twice the next time she bought 9 packs of bottled water for her precious family.

 

[maroonmadman]

If you're talking about the US, our plastic doesn't really end up in the Ocean. It's landfilled.

We actually do have a ton of space that will last a long, long time. Not saying we shouldn't avoid unnecessary waste (drinking bottled water at home in places that are not Jackson or Jackson equivalent is largely just stupid; even if you think the tap water isn't good enough for some reason, you can add a filter to your sink, ice maker, etc.) but plastic waste is not to my knowledge an impending problem for humanity, at least in developed worlds. And in undeveloped worlds, I'm not sure plastic is the problem as much as just trash in general, but certainly if trash is going into the rivers and oceans, paper would be better than plastic.

As a former Coast Guardsman and Merchant Mariner your comment is grossly incorrect. TONS of plastic waste go into the oceans surrounding the US. TONS, probably every day. Had you said "We dump less than 3rd world countries" I would agree but we still allow tons of non degradable garbage into US waterways and contiguous oceans every day. There isn't a river or stream in this state that that is free of plastic garbage in some form.

 

[Dawgbite]

Y’all do realize that most bottled water is just tap water bottled at a bottling plant. Sure it’s filtered but so is the water coming out of your refrigerator door. I realize that some bottled water is natural spring water but many bottled waters just imply that it’s spring water. The technology exists to recycle plastic and aluminum, it’s just not cost effective. It’s cheaper to manufacture from raw materials than from recycled materials.

 

[peewee.sixpack]

That's not a problem with the landfills. That's a problem with people claiming these wetlands are so valuable but not willing to pay for them.

Trust me, these wetlands are extremely valuable to our way of life. I could dump a lot of facts supporting flood storage, filtration, habitat diversity, erosion control and the list goes on and on but you probably wouldn't believe it. Folks pay for it trust me, there is just alot of folks who don't care about the future. It the me mentality.

 

[dog12]

Used to .10 cents a bag here, but this year they've banned plastic bags completely. Hell, I gotta pay a quarter when I go to the drive thru if I want my egg McMuffin in a bag.

Wait till paper straws reach your location, that'll change your life.

Where is "here" . . . if you don't mind me asking?

Paper straws . . . those are very bad. Some restaurants around here use those. I typically just drink from the cup/glass if they give me a paper straw.

 

[johnson86-1]

Trust me, these wetlands are extremely valuable to our way of life. I could dump a lot of facts supporting flood storage, filtration, habitat diversity, erosion control and the list goes on and on but you probably wouldn't believe it. Folks pay for it trust me, there is just alot of folks who don't care about the future. It the me mentality.

They absolutely don't pay for it. They care enough to impose costs on other people, but not to actually pay for it. If they are valuable to the public, the public should pay for them. IF they're not valuable enough for the public to pay for them, then private landowners should be able to use their land.

 

[dog12]

I refill water bottles too. It's a good habit. I also don't use the small plastic bags at grocery stores for vegetables. They really add up when it's numerous bags on every trip, and your food is perfectly fine without them. Honestly, I'm sort of surprised they're still used as commonly as they are.

I think plastics is one of those things future generations will look back on and be like 'what were they thinking'.

Somebody out there (e.g., a materials engineer) needs to develop a biodegradable "plastic" material that is cheap to make and easy to use (like "real" plastic).

Why hasn't someone already done this? Surely America could get it done, right?

 

[johnson86-1]

As a former Coast Guardsman and Merchant Mariner your comment is grossly incorrect. TONS of plastic waste go into the oceans surrounding the US. TONS, probably every day. Had you said "We dump less than 3rd world countries" I would agree but we still allow tons of non degradable garbage into US waterways and contiguous oceans every day. There isn't a river or stream in this state that that is free of plastic garbage in some form.

I didn't mean to imply we never have any plastic pollution. I just mean that we aren't creating massive trash islands and aren't running out of landfill space anytime soon and aren't threatening our ocean habitats with it. What plastic we have is mostly litter, I think a lot of it inadvertent, not dumping, although we have that too. It's an eyesore and a problem for individual organisms in some circumstances (and maybe some individual species?), but it's just not an issue the way it is with other countries or even the same way fertilizer runoff in our country is.

 

[Mobile Bay]

To be fair, NYC does have some of the best tap water in the world. It all comes from the mountains upstate, and they do a good job handling it from there.

That being said the USA has an overall excellent tap water system. It's very well regulated for the most part. Anomalies like Flint make news because they are rare. Dog bites man vs man bites dog.

 

[dog12]

Hold on. You can buy beer for less than $0.75 a bottle?

I saw a case of Miller Lite beer for $15.99 at either Aldi or Lidl yesterday (went to both, so I can't remember which).

That breaks down to around 67 cents per 12-ounce can.

How's that?

 

[Mobile Bay]

The solution to most of the problem would be extremely unpopular with most folks. That solution is mandatory recycling. Make everyone separate their garbage and make municipalities responsible for getting that separated garbage to an approved recycling center. Paper, plastic, glass and metals can all be recycled. Bio-degradables would be the only stuff left for landfills. Think of how many items can be made with just the aluminum we throw into the trash every day that winds up in a landfill. If done intelligently recycling could be profitable.

Single stream recycling is a better option, when the day comes that recycling anything other than aluminum is profitable.

 

[Mobile Bay]

The problem here are many of the landfills are built in or on natural wetlands. I did jurisdictional determinations for seven years and I can't tell you how many JD's I did for landfills in wetlands. Often times they would take some of the best wildlife habitat and vibrant ecosystems and turn them into landfills. One area I can think off right off the top of my head is the landfill just East of Monroe.

I always knew I was getting close to home when I could smell those. Monroe is a dump.

 

[dog12]

My solution is to never buy bottled water. I find it maybe the most ridiculous thing humans have adopted in my lifetime.

I can't imagine talking to my grandfather about the fact that people in my era commonly pay more for water in a plastic bottle at gas stations than they do for the same quantity of gasoline.

I salvage every stout energy drink plastic bottle I see and use them for drinking water storage in the fridge. I also continually berate my friends and family about this issue.

I'm very popular.

Same here.

I do not buy bottled water . . . that is, unless I absolutely have to.

My family (wife, 15-year old daughter and me) took a mini-vacation earlier this summer, and my daughter's friend went with us. We were staying a condo near a mountain lake, so we bought some groceries to stock the fridge and pantry for our stay.

My daughter's friend told me that she drinks bottled water. When she said that, I froze . . . and briefly contemplated giving her my unfiltered opinion about bottled water. However, I decided against it, 17'ing caved and bought a 24-pack of bottled water. Later in the week, I returned to the store to get another one.

It hurt.

 

[dog12]

My neighbors will throw anything in that recycling bin that they don't want to put in a garbage bag. Styrofoam, large wads of bubble wrap, air filters...

In the long view, isn't everything eventually "recycled" anyway?

So, even if I put aluminum cans in the garbage bin instead of the recycle bin, those aluminum cans will eventually be "recycled."

The universe will make sure of that.

 

[tacodawg]

They get left on a tarmac for political reasons****

 

[mcdawg22]

Paper straws . . . those are very bad. Some restaurants around here use those. I typically just drink from the cup/glass if they give me a paper straw.

It’s funny, I’ve kind of seen a reversal. 3 years ago, every beachfront bar and restaurant in Pensacola Beach had them but lately I think the only place where I’ve had one was the Hilton pool bar. Zaxby’s has biodegradable straws that aren’t terrible, but are probably expensive as hell and we’ll find out in 5 years they are giving us cancer.

 

[paindonthurt]

Well $16 for a case of beer is pretty good but I can buy a case of water for far less.

 

[RocketDawg]

If you're talking about the US, our plastic doesn't really end up in the Ocean. It's landfilled. We actually do have a ton of space that will last a long, long time. Not saying we shouldn't avoid unnecessary waste (drinking bottled water at home in places that are not Jackson or Jackson equivalent is largely just stupid; even if you think the tap water isn't good enough for some reason, you can add a filter to your sink, ice maker, etc.) but plastic waste is not to my knowledge an impending problem for humanity, at least in developed worlds. And in undeveloped worlds, I'm not sure plastic is the problem as much as just trash in general, but certainly if trash is going into the rivers and oceans, paper would be better than plastic.

We have a recycling program here that provides free monthly pickup of plastics, metals, and cardboard. They provide one of the large carts (blue to distinguish it from normal garbage green) to everybody in the metro, and it's free. Since it's free, and done by a private company, presumably they actually do recycle what they pick up - it would not makes sense for a company to provide an expensive service and then just dump the items in a landfill.

 

[RocketDawg]

Nope. Jackson water has been brown forever, even when not under a boil notice. I've flushed the toilet before using it because it looked like it needed flushing only to find that it was just that color by default.

Went to Pascagoula a few years ago on a Naval Reserve weekend, and the water was dark brown - a glassful would have been opaque. Wouldn't drink it, wouldn't shower in it - only would flush it in an emergency. Actually, the tap water looked like it'd already been flushed. Don't know if was that particular motel, or citywide, but it was really bad. Hopefully it's been fixed since then.

 

[BoomBoom.sixpack]

I didn't mean to imply we never have any plastic pollution. I just mean that we aren't creating massive trash islands and aren't running out of landfill space anytime soon and aren't threatening our ocean habitats with it. What plastic we have is mostly litter, I think a lot of it inadvertent, not dumping, although we have that too. It's an eyesore and a problem for individual organisms in some circumstances (and maybe some individual species?), but it's just not an issue the way it is with other countries or even the same way fertilizer runoff in our country is.

The amount/type of plastics going into the oceans (not necessarily from the US) is most definitely an issue for the ecosystem.

 

[RocketDawg]

As a former Coast Guardsman and Merchant Mariner your comment is grossly incorrect. TONS of plastic waste go into the oceans surrounding the US. TONS, probably every day. Had you said "We dump less than 3rd world countries" I would agree but we still allow tons of non degradable garbage into US waterways and contiguous oceans every day. There isn't a river or stream in this state that that is free of plastic garbage in some form.

Not to mention effects on sea life. This sort of picture is disgusting. At the very least, cut the six-pack holders before throwing them away: https://www.thedodo.com/turtle-six-pack-unstoppable-1166240209.html

 

[MS-halfstep]

Where is "here" . . . if you don't mind me asking?

Paper straws . . . those are very bad. Some restaurants around here use those. I typically just drink from the cup/glass if they give me a paper straw.

I reside in the People's Republic of British Columbia. So west coast politics at play here.

I live the mandatory recycling and bottle deposit scam...um solutions that others have mentioned already. I got 4 dang bins I'm supposed to sort my trash to. Is it working? Who knows.

But paper straws are the worst. The mrs bought me a silicone straw to keep in my car but I lost it

 

[jdbulldog]

$6 a gallon for water by the bottle or $6 for 1,000 gallons from many very safe water systems in our state…easy math for me

Bottled Water has always been funny to me. I realize it is needed in situations like Jackson and post hurricanes, but when you have perfectly good tap water I can’t understand why you would pay for bottled water. People complain about gas prices but willingly pay $6 a gallon for something that is pennies.

Penn and Teller did a ******** episode on it years ago. Most of it comes from municipal water supplies and when they did a bling taste test with NYC tap and 4 other bottled water brands. Most people picked the tap in their top 3 for best tasting.

 

[mcdawg22]

In the long view, isn't everything eventually "recycled" anyway?

So, even if I put aluminum cans in the garbage bin instead of the recycle bin, those aluminum cans will eventually be "recycled."

The universe will make sure of that.

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[Bobby Ricigliano]

It’s in the works. Check out Danimer Scientific.