Sustainable Hydration: Why More People Use Their Own Refillable Water Bottles

There are many benefits to avoiding single use plastics

Collaborative post by another author.

Single-use plastic is one of the biggest ecological headaches of our times. We’re all familiar with those horrible images of discarded bottles and assorted plastic detritus bobbing up and down in the world’s oceans. That plastic is a problem because it takes hundreds of years to decompose and in the form of particulates known as microplastics, it is ingested by fish and other marine wildlife.

It’s understandable, then, that many of us are moving away from single-use plastic bottles and looking to adopt a more sustainable approach to keeping hydrated. A refillable water bottle ticks all the boxes.

They are easily refilled at a domestic tap, a public water dispenser, or from a larger bottle, and are super sustainable and healthy, especially if you opt for a plastic-free BPA drinking vessel.

Below, we take a closer look at why water bottles are at the forefront of the move to more sustainable living.

Money Saver

By using a refill bottle, you’re not just saving the environment, you could also be saving yourself a small fortune in the long run too. True, bottled water isn’t expensive; it’s currently available for around £1 per litre in the UK. But over a year, that stacks up to over £300 if you drink a bottle a day.

Conversely, tap water and water freely available at a public dispenser are at least a factor of 100 times cheaper. That’s a decent saving over the year, and a substantial one over a lifetime.

Carbon Footprint

The end of the lifecycle of single-use plastic can be devastating if it’s dumped in oceans or left to fester in landfills. But we shouldn’t overlook the ecological impact of producing the stuff in the first place.

Fabricating a plastic bottle includes sourcing materials, manufacturing it and transporting it to its market. Each of these stages can be carbon-heavy and polluting. Indeed, a recent study found that refillable plastic bottles and reusable water receptacles save around 50% in carbon emissions compared to single-use bottles.

Fashionable

By using a refillable bottle, you are also taking part in a movement. Over the past decade or so, several schemes have popped up, run by people looking to cut our dependence on single-use plastics by offering free-to-use refill sites.

In the UK, the main ones include:

Refill by City to Sea: A nationwide campaign that is supported by an app that allows water fans to refill and refresh at free-to-use refill points.
Sipple Hydration Stations: Touch-free, high-tech refill stations found in public spaces in the UK, often offering filtered chilled water.
University and Campus Schemes: Most UK universities now provide refill points and handy drinking fountains for students and staff to top up their water bottles.
Local Government & Water Company Initiatives: Regional councils and water companies (Wessex Water, for example) have got in on the act and have installed refill stations in public buildings.

Plastic Free

Many fans of refillable water bottles go the whole hog and cut out plastic entirely by opting for a stainless steel vessel, or minimise their exposure to harmful plastic particulates by choosing a BPA-free receptacle for their water. This allows for the elimination of plastic nasties and has important health benefits.

The leaching of chemicals like BPA or phthalates into water, especially when it is exposed to heat, a UV light source, or after a long storage period, can lead to health issues, especially hormonal and metabolic problems. For example, BPA has been linked to endocrine disruption in animal studies, which is why many water drinkers are increasingly opting for BPA-free drinking vessels.

Conclusion

Sustainable hydration is a hot issue at the moment and will only become more so as we transition to more sustainable living habits. You can make a start today by ditching single-use plastic and instead choosing a more sustainable path to hydration by opting for a refill receptacle for your water needs.