Plastic Water Bottle Pollution

1. Plastic Water Bottle Pollution Morgan McCauley

2. The Ugly Truth • It takes 3X the amount of water to produce the bottle as it does to fill it • 90% of Americans have access to clean, safe tap water • 22% of tested bottled water brands contained chemical contaminants at levels above strict state health limits • The recycling rate of all plastics used in the U.S. is only 2-3% • Only One and Five bottles are recycled

3. The Problem with Plastic • Plastic does not biodegrade, it photo degrades • It takes 3 fluid ounces of crude oil to make one plastic bottle • 17 million barrels of oil are used in the production of water bottles yearly, enough to fuel 1 million cars for a year

4. Bottle Water vs. Tap Water • The price of bottled water is up to 1900X the cost of tap water • 40% of all bottled water is taken from tap water sources • A family of 4 can save over $1,200 a year just by stopping the consumption of bottled water • Tap water has been proven to be safer to drink than bottled water

5. Who it Affects • Plastic is a threat to the marine environment • Marine organisms ingest and entangle themselves with plastic • Fish, birds, and other animals mistake smaller pieces of plastic for food, until they starve to death • 1.5 million marine animals are killed every year due to plastic

6. The Mission • Educating the public • Limit the consumption of plastic water bottles • Get people to pledge to use reusable water bottles • Prove to the public that tap water is just as good as bottled water