Bottled-water Future Sales
The sales of bottled water in the United States are estimated to be $50 and $100 billion a year. It is also estimated that the demand for bottled water will continue to increase by 7 to 10 percent a year.
You might not be surprised to find out that the United States is the largest consumer of bottled water, followed by China and Brazil.
There are three major environmental impacts that comes from the manufacturing process of bottled water.
1. energy used in manufacturing, storing, and transporting bottled water
2. local effects on water resources
3. generation of solid waste
When we look at the costs for production of bottled water we find through a study conducted at Oregon State University in Corvallis, which states that every year "Around the world, factories are using more than 18 million barrels of oil and up to 130 billion gallons of fresh water" and that's just to make the bottles. It then takes another 41 billion gallons of water to fill the bottles.
The future trends of bottled water show that the world will continue to consume ever increasing amounts of bottled water. This will continue to put strains on our environment, in a time where many parts of the United States are experiencing extended droughts, possibly due to climate change. Oil is still needed in the manufacturing process which will continue to put pressure on our government for a secure and reliable oil supply for the coming years. How much oil is really left for the world to consume increasing amounts of the fossil fuel. The answer to these questions are truly unknown yet pose a grim future.
Thoughts, Comments, Questions...
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Great post!
If the economics don't work, recycling efforts won't either.
As our little contribution to make this economics of recycling more appealing, http://LivePaths.com blogs about people and companies that make money selling recycled or reused items, provide green services or help us reduce our dependency on non renewable resources.
I'll have to show you THIS one. ON the COLBERT Report
DEAN KAMEN demonstrates his GREAT Water Purifier!
yeah that thing was so sweet, thanks for the tip
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