MNN - Mother Nature Network

 

That's the number of water bottles that end up in our landfills instead of being recycled. Only about 23 percent of the water bottles used in America are actually recycled. Imagine how many plastic bottles are polluting our waters and our land. What's worse is that it takes 1,000 years before the water bottles start decomposing. Recycling is the obvious and best plan of action. Not only will we help our environment by recycling, but we will also help our economy.

 

The oil that is shipped from overseas for our automobiles is the same oil used to create plastic bottles. We can reduce our reliance on foreign oil if more bottles are reused and recycled. One ton of plastic water bottles equals approximately 2,000 pounds of oil. During Keep America Beautiful's 2008 Great American Cleanup, 189 million bottles were collected from our highways, waterways and parks.

 

Students are getting involved all across the country. Since Washington University in St. Louis first started it, eight colleges and universities (including Seattle University and the University of Wisconsin) have joined the effort to stop selling water bottles on campus. We can all help the Earth, in addition to helping ourselves. We can recycle bottled water and make money off the plastic bottles through state programs that redeem deposits. We can help get 189 million bottles out of our highways, waterways and parks. We can all do our part and make a change for our future.