What is a Good Alternative to Plastic?

Plastic is found all around us. From our food packaging and bottled water to diapers and synthetic fabrics, there are countless areas where we use plastic in day-to-day life. Plastics with long-term use aren’t as bad, but what impacts our planet’s ecosystem in a negative way is the disposable plastic products most of us are guilty of using.

To live in a more eco-friendly way, you need to actively do the work to improve our planet. This doesn’t have to involve massive changes in your lifestyle. Small changes such as using less electricity and replacing your disposable plastics with a better alternative can make a big difference.

Why You Want to Find an Alternative to Plastic

With more than 50 billion plastic water bottles being used every year, it’s no surprise that most of these bottles end up in landfills. In fact, less than 25% of them are recycled. Plastic being recyclable is great, but if we aren’t doing our part to be proactive and actually do the recycling, all of those water bottles can cause major damage to our environment.

Finding alternatives to plastic can take a lot of motivation and discipline, but taking this step can help your health and our environment. With each person in the U.S. using about 167 plastic water bottles yearly, switching to a sustainable option can help protect our environment.

Benefits of Finding an Alternative to Plastic

Reducing your plastic waste is a huge way to make a difference in the health of our environment. In turn, you’ll be able to enjoy some health benefits as well. You can minimize your use of plastic by cooking from scratch, shopping from different stores, and being mindful of the things you purchase.

Better for Our Planet

It’s no secret that plastics are not good for the environment. The manufacturing of plastics requires the use of oil-derived products which are non-biodegradable. These ingredients are harmful in many ways, as they can change the water, air, and soil, which negatively impacts all living things, animals, humans, and even our crops.

Better for Ourselves

While many plastics are becoming safer and safer for our bodies, many of these items still contain BPA. This chemical mimics estrogen and can have bad effects on those that don’t require the hormone. In addition to BPA, plastics also contain phthalates and other harmful toxins.

Less Waste Production

Avoiding all trash is nearly impossible. Even for the crunchiest out there, they still have some waste. Many items are biodegradable but plastic is not. Even though plastic products break down into smaller pieces, they will never truly disappear. If you do have to use plastic, you should always recycle.

Save Money

Using products with multiple uses rather than disposables may be more expensive initially but you’ll save so much money overall since you can reuse the same item instead of replacing it.

A Great Alternative to Plastic

One of the most ecologically responsible and easily recyclable materials readily available to rival plastics, is aluminum. With the bottled water industry irresponsibly cranking out 500 billion plastic bottles per year, it is a disservice to humanity and to the Earth to continue that.

This is particularly true now that we know just how long our plastic waste stays in the ecosystem, and how it ends up in almost every stage of life in the ocean. It is estimated that a single plastic bottle can take 400 years to completely degrade back to naturally usable materials. It is projected that by halfway through this century there will be approximately one plastic bottle to one fish in the oceans of our planet.

This is because nearly all plastic bottles are discarded as garbage, and not recycled. If water companies continue to sell plastic bottles at the rate of nearly one million per minute, they knowingly have a hand in the destruction of our world.

Aluminum is one of the most widely recycled materials used in consumables packaging. The metal itself is completely, 100% recyclable and reusable, and has been consistently and reliably recycled for more than one hundred years. Aluminum has maintained a recycling rate of approximately 75% since first being recorded in 1888.

The carbon footprint of aluminum on a revolving basis is low as well, thanks to the ability to get from recycled metal to a new can in just 60 days. This means not only are the bottles being produced have a far less significant impact on the environment, but after a while, the production can largely taper off, since more and more cans will end up being recycled back into water vessels.

Another benefit to using aluminum is the element’s low reactivity and largely inert nature. Aluminum doesn’t rust, and it won’t leach into the water being packaged inside. This isn’t something that can often be said of plastics, particularly since they are known to be capable of leaching into the food and drink they are packaging.

Companies That Use an Alternative to Plastic

Some water companies have made the conscious decision to utilize solely eco-friendly and recyclable materials for their packaging. While this often isn’t the cheapest option initially, which is why plastic is so widely used, knowing that you are patronizing a company that is investing in our earth instead of their pocketbooks can pay dividends in happiness. It shows that they are willing to take a stand against convenience at the price of our environment, and economy at the price of sustainability.

This devotion to all-natural and renewable supply chain and packaging is the sign of an organization that plans to be around to celebrate their techniques in a brighter future. One where plastic waste and irresponsibly large carbon footprints are simply a bad memory. That is what you can expect from the kind of company that refuses to dig into delicate aquifers or exploit natural springs, and instead harvests their product directly from the skyward source.

Making the switch from plastic water bottles to a reusable, aluminum water bottle is one of the greatest ways in which you can most positively impact the environment. More than that, switching to highly purified rainwater is one of the most sustainable things you can do for the planet, as well.

The time to invest in the health of our planet is now. Switch from plastic water bottles to highly alkaline, purified rainwater packaged in a renewable aluminum bottle today.