Reusing water bottles is an eco-friendly antidote to single-use disposable plastic bottles, but which of the three main material choices is the greenest option?In our quest for healthy alternatives to sugar-laden soft drinks and juices, bottled water is a hugely popular portable alternative. In 2011 the global market is forecast to be worth more than $90 billion, an increase of 41.8 per cent since 2006. Closer to home, the Australian bottled water market was estimated at $544 million in 2008.
But our thirst for bottled water is leaving a giant-sized eco-footprint. It took a whopping 456,131 barrels of oil to produce the plastic bottles for the 250 million litres of bottled water drunk by Australians in 2006, and according to the NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change, created 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse emissions through production and transportation. What's more, only 36 per cent of drink bottles made from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) are recycled. At best, the rest end up in landfill - at worst, they litter our waterways and oceans.
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