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Why bottled water is one of the biggest scams of the century

We’re in deep water
Bottled water was first sold in the US in the 1700s
Plastic bottles were invented in the 1960s
Our obsession with bottled water began in the 1970s
Bottled water is now more popular than soda
Soda companies are the biggest producers of bottled water
The global bottled water market is worth around $300 billion (£247.2bn)
A million plastic bottles are bought around the world every minute
Weekly sales in America alone could orbit the planet
Sales will reach half a trillion by 2021
Bottled water is 300 times more expensive than tap
Many bottled waters come from the tap
Brands have been forced to come clean
Most of us can’t tell the difference
Cleveland proved their tap water is better than Fiji
Fewer than half the bottles bought in 2016 were recycled
Most plastic bottles aren’t made from recycled plastic
It takes 450 years for plastic bottles to decompose
A third of the world’s sea turtles have consumed plastic
Every year 17 million barrels of oil are used in production
It takes a surprising amount of water to make plastic bottles
Imported brands take even more energy to produce
PET plastic increases our carbon emissions
785 million people don’t have access to clean water
San Francisco was the first US city to restrict sales
Water bottles are now being banned from colleges
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Tarasyuk Igor/Shutterstock

We’re in deep water

Just 50 years ago the thought of buying bottled water when it was freely available from the tap would have seemed absurd to most people. Yet today sales are higher than ever. We look at how much we’re really drinking, how our obsession started and the devastating effect it’s having on our environment.
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Anna Bailey

15 August 2019

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