Here at The Water Tank Project we care about this issue because we see a market trend toward recycling and elimination of low-grade plastic bottle use. We intend to propel this trend into a movement. Through our voice expressed by artists, we can bring attention to a vital resource that nurtures and sustains life – water. Raising awareness of the ill-effects of plastic bottle use is an important part of the effort.
 

The EPA detailed that over the last two years only 28% of our fellow citizens recycled or reused their plastic bottles. We have room to improve, and progress is underway. The Grand Canyon has eliminated plastic bottle use on the premises. Water stations and reusable practices are now more prevalent. 
 

In May of this year at Loyola University’s campus in Chicago, students have banned bottle use and increased water filling and recycling stations. San Francisco was the first city to implement a vendor plastic bottle ban in 2007, and Seattle has since followed. A city-ban authorized by its mayor involves prohibition at city-owned locations and city-sponsored events.
 

Greg Nickels, Mayor of Seattle, saw that the ban saved about $58,000 in one year. And Gavin Newsome, Mayor of San Francisco, found that the ban saved the city over $2 million dollars over the course of a little over 4 years. 
 

With a community of interest brewing, and with more awareness growing, we can shift our cultural standards to protect water, reuse available resources and eliminate unsustainable practices. 

Alex Davies, writer for Discovery.com, TreeHugger, and TWTP suggests the 999Bottle as an alternative. It has rings to let you count how many you fill up and don’t use plastic bottles. It’s another way to keep the demand low for producing low-grade plastic bottles.

 

But this is just one of many ways! Figure out what you can do to lessen your water bottle use and/or step up your efforts to recycle those bottles when you do happen to have one!