In the Grocery Store:  Skip the Bottled Water!!

You've probably heard about all the health problems associated with re-using single-use plastic water bottles, right?  You can usually re-use a plastic bottle a couple of times, but repeated washings will cause most bottles to start leaching toxins.   Purchasing water in non-reusable bottles is hazardous to the environment too.  According to National Geographic Online, the production of plastic for single-use bottles requires millions of barrels of oil per year.  Transportation of bottled water from its source to stores releases thousands of tons of carbon dioxide.  The same article, which you can link to here, says that 29 billion single-use plastic water bottles are produced each year, and only about 13 percent of those end up in the recycling stream. The rest go into landfills.

Of course, there are times when plastic water bottles come in handy, such as on hikes or at picnics.  For other times, you'll be healthier and your pocketbook will suffer less if you use a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminum rather than plastic (because even reusable plastic bottles will eventually start to break down). Also:  You can use a water filter to purify tap water (although, we are lucky in the St. Louis region to have great-tasting, award-winning tap water). For more "Go Green" ideas, visit this Website, provided by Columbia University in New York.  See you next month!