What Happens to Mineral Water Bottles

When I was in college a few years back, every corner of the school has a drinking fountain. The water has a good taste, it’s cool and it’s accessible. Every 5 minutes of walk, you’ll find that stainless steel drinking fountain nearby.

Today, it seems they are doing away with these drinking fountains even in mall food courts. The only food court in Manila that I saw a drinking fountain is in Robinson’s Galleria. All the rest of the malls force you to buy softdrinks or mineral water.

Before I used to recycle mineral water bottles. I’ll put water into the bottle in the morning and use it again the next day. But my sister-in-law says that I shouldn’t recycle mineral water bottles. The plastic materials in the container leach to the water especially when the bottles were exposed to high temperatures. She said that the chemicals can cause cancer. O-oh, I have been using that bottle for months now. Scary.

So, if we are not to recycle the mineral water bottles, what happens to the empty plastic bottles? They’ll be thrown to the trashcans and landfills. In the case of the Philippines, they’ll be thrown to the roadside.

Since mineral water bottles are made of non-biodegradable materials, they will be in our landfills for thousands of years. Even if we bury them, they will stay under the ground for thousand of years.

What can we do about it? If you can do away with bottled mineral water, do so. You can buy a stainless steel drinking container as use that everyday for your drinking water. This is what I do. You can buy those in supermarkets and they can be as cheap as P150. You can use them for years and you’ll be sure that no chemicals will contaminate the water that you’re drinking.