It can be so difficult to make changes that have positive impacts on our environment. That being said, these changes are essential if we want to make a difference and help clean up our planet. One such change that is actually easier than you might imagine is reusable water or beverage bottles.
What Is a Reverse Osmosis System?
Reverse osmosis is a means of cleaning and filtering water to remove harmful compounds and materials from water to help make it usable and drinkable. There are both commercial reverse osmosis system options typically used to purify water for large-scale companies and retail water osmosis system options that the public can purchase to clean water in their homes.
So, what do these water purification systems have to do with reusable bottles? These systems are often used when bottling water for commercial sale. If you can filter water at your home, you can then use a reusable bottle to help reduce waste and keep single-use plastics out of the landfill.
Why Are Plastic Bottles Harmful?
The first reason these bottles are harmful is not specifically geared toward the users. These bottles are not biodegradable, which means that each bottle you put in the landfill will stay there for decades. Plastics can take up to 700 years to fully degrade, meaning that a bottle that is put in the landfill now will still be there in the year 2720.
Single-use plastic bottles also contain chemicals that can leech into the water you drink. This means that these bottles are not as good for you as you might imagine. These bottles can leach chemicals that have been linked to cancer and other very serious health issues.
Bottled water is not that much better, if at all, than the water that you can get from a home filtration system or from your own tap. You may also be drinking microplastics when you drink bottled water, as about 90% of companies were found to have microplastics in their water when it was tested.
Reusable water bottles are better in a range of ways. You can control the water quality in the bottle, keep single-use plastics out of the landfill, and control what you are putting into your body. These reusable bottles are a great option if you want to make sure your water is pure, healthy and that you are also doing your part to reduce the waste that we are putting in our landfills.
We only get one planet, and if we fill it up with garbage, we will not be able to stay on it. Our job is to make any changes that we can, no matter how small, to help keep this planet clean and help prevent it from being overrun by rubbish.