Can we do without plastic bottles?

It is the best-selling product in supermarkets: six billion plastic water bottles are sold in France every year, or 89 bottles per inhabitant every year and enough to fill seven Olympic swimming pools every day. Of the ten glasses of water consumed, six come from taps and four from bottles. Depending on the brand, bottled water can cost up to 300 times more than tap water.

What options?

Plastic bottles are by far the most polluting waste in the world. In France, only half of it is recycled. However, as many options exist, carafe, filter systems or carbonated water, there are as many possible uses as consumers. Recently a father has changed his habits; His son likes sparkling water, so he invested 70 euros in a device that allows him to make sparkling water at will.

A filter jug ​​promises to free tap water from heavy metals or lime scale. It costs 60 Euros per year for cartridges. 20% of French people have this type of carafe. It should be refrigerated, the filter changed regularly and consumed within 24 hours to avoid causing bacteria to breed. “These filters represent additional pollution that we can do without very simple actions such as using a glass carafe that we decant in the refrigerator”, recalls Adema’s deputy director Rafael Gustavi. Health agencies assure us: tap water in France is inspected and generally of excellent quality. It is also the cheapest option.

Among our sources:

An American study, published in a scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 8 January

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2300582121

A non-exhaustive list