Bottled Beverages - Where Will We Waste Them?

Green is good - we are developing alternative fuels, installing solar powered energy panels on homes and businesses, and buying hybrid automobiles. Some people are taking even greater active steps to ride on the global warming bandwagon and save our planet and its people. Are you drinking a nice, cold, refreshing bottled water, energy drink, or functional vitamin-enhanced beverage while you are installing your solar panels? If so, you are not alone. But, did you know that:

* American consumers spent more than $270 billion for the 36 billion gallons of fountain and packaged beverages we consumed in 2005. That figure is about equal to the amount of money Americans spent on gasoline during that year.

* Americans purchased 215 billion beverage cans and bottles in 2005, 21 billion more than in 2002. 14% of those were plastic bottled water.

* 75% of non-carbonated beverage containers are plastic.

* Fewer than 1 in 5 plastic bottles are recycled. Almost 2 million tons of plastic bottles were sent to landfills in 2005.

* By 2010, sales of flavored non-carbonated drinks are likely to surpass soda sales.

Remember about 20 years ago when we thought buying water in a plastic bottle was going to be a flop of an idea? After all, you can take the plastic sports bottle from WalMart and fill it from your kitchen tap? I remember my father saying, "Now who is going to pay money for water in a bottle?" The more important question that was not asked 20 years ago by my father is, "Where are we going to bury billions of plastic bottles and cans that do not get recycled?"

The Container Recycling Institute released its' Water, Water, Everywhere report in February 2007 and reports that an estimated 144 billion containers were wasted in the United States in 2005. More specifically, the containers in landfills, on road sides, or sent to incinerators includes:
54 billion aluminum cans
52 billion plastic bottles and jugs
30 billion glass bottles
10 billion pouches, cartons, and drink boxes