Practical Tips to Help You Ditch Bottles for Good

We all know how important it is to look after our environment by reducing waste and lowering our carbon footprint. The decisions we make today are going to have a profound effect on our future generations, and it’s vital that we change our ways now to encourage our kids to learn the same habits.

It takes small and steady steps in order to truly break away from those poor habits, but how exactly can we achieve those goals? If you’re someone that has been buying or using bottled products for a long time (such as bottled water) then it can be challenging to break out of that habit. So in this article, we’re going to talk about a couple of practical tips that can help you ditch the bottles for good so you can be more friendly towards the environment and help preserve the planet.

Check if your tap water is safe to drink first

Before you decide to throw out the bottles and drink purely from your tap, make sure the water is potable first. Here are the main ways you can find out if the water in your area is safe to drink:

  • Search a database of tap water reports such as ewg.org
  • Check with your water company by contacting them over the phone
  • If your drinking water is from a well, you may need to contact your state government
  • You can perform a water test with specially designed kits

If you’ve performed all of these and found out that your tap water is in fact not safe to drink or could contain pollutants, then you may need to boil the water first or consider using a water filter.

Consider getting a water filter if it’s not, or to improve the taste

If your tap water isn’t potable from the faucet then you may need to consider purchasing a filter. Websites like theberkey.com will give you plenty of information on the types of filter you can purchase, but there are three main options that you should consider.

  • Purchase a standalone filter jug that needs to be filled with water. Refills are generally a lot cheaper per litre of water compared to bottled water and they’re convenient for a quick glass of water.
  • Add a filter to your kitchen tap or a specific drinking fountain faucet that automatically filters the water as it is needed.
  • Add a filter to your entire home plumbing system. This can be quite expensive but will ensure that all of the faucets in your home carry potable water.

Filters can also help to improve the taste of water if you don’t like how your tap water tastes. Some find that higher-quality filters can make the water taste better, whereas low-quality cheap filters may impede the taste.

Look at how much money you’re spending on bottles

If you want a practical tip to help you ditch bottles for good then you only need look at how much you’re spending on bottled water. Sure, you can generally purchase larger bottles of water for a much cheaper price, but they’re frustrating to store and move around. When you compare the cost of bottled water to that of a filter refill, you’re getting far less water for your money.

Take a look at how much money you spend on bottled water in a month and calculate those costs. Then compare them to the cost of a filter either for your entire home or as a jug with refills.

Understand that water is water and there’s nothing special in those bottles

Bottled water can be incredibly expensive especially if it’s dressed up in a fancy bottle or has ridiculous promises such as rejuvenating your skin or being loaded with some kind of minerals that will help restore your youthful appearance. At the end of the day, water is water and it’s supposed to hydrate us, so there’s really no difference between bottled water or tap water assuming it’s potable.

In addition, some companies even go as far to bottle up tap water and sell it with sneaky advertising tricks to ensure that no one suspects it. Just take a look at this article from forbes.com that talks about Nestlé selling falsely-advertised bottled tap water as spring water!

Bottled water is, in most cases, no safer than tap water

Tap water is typically filtered or purified before it reaches your home. If it’s potable, then there’s really nothing in the water that could harm you unless there has been a contamination. When you compare this to bottled water, then you typically run the same risks and there’s no difference between the two types of water.

For instance, if a batch of spring water is contaminated then it could still reach your store shelf and end up being consumed by you. In other words, there’s really no safety advantage when it comes to bottled water.

Learn the impact that plastic bottles have on the environment

A great way to open your eyes to the waste problem in the world is to see it for yourself. Articles such as this one at truthout.org are a great wake up call that shows us just how bad plastic waste can get. Once you’ve seen the images, it’s hard to imagine what the world could look like a couple of years from now if we continue to contribute to the world’s waste.

Understand the health concerns surrounding plastic bottles

Bottled water serves as a convenient source of calorie-free hydration, but drinking from a plastic bottle could actually be harmful to your health. This is because of BPA, an industrial chemical that’s used to make plastic bottles and resins. It’s typically found in food containers and bottles, such as the ones used to store bottled water.

Research has shown that BPA can contaminate food and drink and may have negative effects on your brain, on infants and also on behavior. This research isn’t widely discussed due to there needing to be more solid proof, but it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

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