Evan Hernandez
Pawel Klim
Jamie Schuberth
Jill Shah
Krusha Shah
Miscellaneous Research Pertaining to Plastic Water Bottles
1. Motivation for Buying Bottled Water Bottles
a. Plastic water bottles are convenient to take wherever and whenever you need to,
even if you are in a rush. It can be placed easily in the refrigerator to cool as well.
You just grab the bottle and go. However this can be refuted because it takes more
energy to go to the store, get the bottles, and carry them home rather than simply
turning on the tap and getting drinking water that way. It is more of a hassle to
buy plastic water bottles.
b. Consumers may think that plastic water bottles are cheap to buy. This is not true.
Let's say you drink “2 bottles a day 300 days a year. At $1 a bottle that’s $600.
You can get the same amount of water out of [the] tap at home for about $3. Add
on a filter and that goes up to around $5. But let’s say you can get the bottles for a
penny.” That's still $3 more expensive than getting drinking water out of the tap,
and you cannot find plastic water bottles for a penny regardless. Even more, taxes
have not been factored in yet for the “local landfill and recycling center,” in
addition to the fuel used to drive the car to and from the store from which you buy
the plastic water bottles.
c. Additionally, consumers may believe that bottled water is cleaner than tap water.
However, in 2008, an investigation was done by the nonprofit Environmental
Working Group, and they found that some bottled water is tainted with untested
industrial chemicals. The plastic used to make these water bottles can pose more
of a contamination threat than the water itself, possibly causing reproductive
problems and different types of cancer. The plastic used – #1 polyethylene
terephthalate (PET or PETE) – is safe if used only once. However, if they are
reused, like they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as “DEHA, a
possible human carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential
hormone disruptor.” Since the plastic is porous, it is possible to ingest harmful
bacteria with each drink if you reuse the bottles. On the other hand, tap water is
federally regulated and often screened for dangerous pollutants.
d. Moreover, facilities continue to make plastic water bottles as well. The plastic is
sturdy and will not break so it is easier to ship out to sellers and buyers. The
plastic is extremely lightweight and they continue to create ways to reduce the
amount of plastic that is used to make the bottles. This reduces the cost of
production and shipping, therefore cutting down cost of fuel used to ship out, but
only encourageing increased production.
i. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100310/why-tap-water-
is-better/
ii. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/normschriever/post_5218_b_3613577.html
iii. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/enough-with-the-plastic-water-bottlesalready.html#ixzz2mNOcmDy1
iv. http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-life-cycle-of-a-plastic-bottle.htm
2. Different Types Of Plastic
There is an SPI code, or number to distinguish each type of plastic used for a product, as shown
below; with this, the different characteristics of each type of plastic is also listed:
Plastic Type
Polyethylene terephthalate
(PET(E))
Characteristics




High Density Polyethylene
(HDPE)


absorbs odors and flavors from foods and drinks
used to make common household items such as beverage
bottles, medicine bottles, rope, and clothing
high heat resistance
commonly recycled


not known to transmit chemicals into foods or drinks
products include containers for milk, motor oil, shampoos,
detergents, and bleaches
cannot reuse
commonly recycled
Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)




used for pipes and tiles
commonly found in plumbing pipes
should not come in contact with foods or drinks (harmful)
sometimes recycled
Low-Density Polyethylene
(LDPE)



healthy plastic
durable and flexible
common products include sandwich bags, squeezable
bottles, and plastic grocery bags
sometimes recycled

Polypropylene (PP)
Polystyrene (PS)




strong
can withstand high temperatures
common items include lunch boxes, margarine containers,
syrup bottles, and prescription bottles
occasionally recycled


hard, brittle, and glassy surface
items include disposable coffee cups, plastic food boxes,

Code 7



i.
packing foam, coat hangers, and plastic cutlery
commonly recycled but difficult to do
other miscellaneous types of plastic including polycarbonate
and polylactide
polycarbonate is used in baby bottles and medical storage
containers
difficult to recycle
http://www.ryedale.gov.uk/pdf/Different_plastics.pdf
3. Why People Do Not Recycle Plastic Water Bottles
a. One of the main reasons that people do not recycle is because of their lack of
education on the method. They do not understand the importance or impact of
recycling plastic bottles, or what is recycling in general. It was never emphasized
in their lives before and therefore do not initiate the action in their everyday lives.
b. Another reason people do not recycle is because of convenience. They believe it is
easier to simply throw everything in the trash rather than taking the effort to
recycle an item, especially because they may not have a local agency to dispose of
the recyclable products on their behalf. Recycling is “misperceived as being
inconvenient.” Furthermore, when it comes to recycling plastic water bottles,
many people either throw the entire bottle in the trash or, for those who do
recycle, in the recycling bin. Yet many do not take the time to remove the lid,
throw the lid into the trash, and then recycle the plastic bottle. This time
consuming method prevents people from properly recycling water bottles as well.
c. Consumers do not understand the value of recycling plastic water bottles too. Yet
contradicting this, Marglen Industries, one of the largest PET recycling facilities
in the United States, uses “solar energy to help convert 2.5 billion empty bottles
each year into many useful products.” If more people were educated on this
knowledge, they would begin understanding and noticing the impacts of not
recycling.
i. http://earth911.com/news/2011/06/16/why-dont-americans-recycle-moreplastic/
4. Why should you remove lids before recycling plastic water bottles
a. Plastic bottle caps are made up of two different types of plastic. The bottle itself is
made up of polyethylene terephthalate (which is commonly recycled), and the cap
is made up of polypropylene (which is occasionally recycled). When different
types of plastics that should be melted at different temperatures are melted
together, they mix and contaminate one another. This reduces the value of the
material or it requires outside machinery to separate them before processing.
b. The lids may jam processing equipment at the recycling facilities. Keeping the lid
on the bottles makes it harder to compact properly during the recycling process as
well. The lids can be a safety risk for the recycling workers because they can
shoot off at high speeds around the facility, and since the caps are small,
unattached lids may fall through cracks at the sorting line at the facility and end
up in the debris pile headed towards the landfill. This completely opposes the fact
that recycling is the better option.
i. http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/plastic_lids.htm
ii. http://earth911.com/news/2012/03/08/plastic-bottle-caps-recycling/
5. How are plastic water bottles recycled?
a. Empty plastic bottles are collected by the local recycling facility. They are taken
to a Materials Recovery Facility, and there they are separated from other materials
which were recycled.
b. The plastic water bottles are crushed and wrapped together in groups with wire so
they do not separate or fall loose from the pile.
c. They are dry cleaned and sorted using an optical beam that separates the different
types of plastic.
d. The bottles are then ground down into little flakes or pieces which are washed and
sorted again afterwards.
e. The flakes are either decontaminated using a chemical solution or they are melted
and separated to form beads as the plastic cools down. The flakes or beads are
melted again and then used to turn into new products.
i. http://www3.hants.gov.uk/recycleforhampshire/rfh-what-happens/rfhplasticbottles.htm
ii. http://www.bottledwater.org/content/recycling-empty-plastic-water-bottles
6. Why should you recycle plastic water bottles
The following is a list of what recycling water bottles can do for the environment and/or
why you should recycle:
 Recycling plastic water bottles can conserve enough energy to light a 60 watt light bulb
for up to six hours.
 The amount of plastic generation in municipal solid waste has increased in the past 47
years from 1% to 12.1%.
 Plastic bottles can be recycled to make other products such as clothing, carpeting,
detergent bottles, and lumber.
 You should recycle because you have the option to. There are multiple facilities to go to
and access a plastics recycling program if your local disposal facility does not come and
pick it up weekly.
 Recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space, and recycling one
pound of plastic water bottles saves about 12,000 BTUs of heat energy.
 It reduces the amount of greenhouse gases.
 The recovery rate of plastic is decreasing – there was only a 37% recovery in 2007.
 Plastic does not come from renewable sources! If we continue to use them at these rates
without maximizing proper recycling, plastic water bottles may be out of our lives sooner
than you think.
a. http://earth911.com/news/2009/06/08/360-recycling-plastic-bottles/
7. Plastic water bottle consumption over the years
a. Looking at this chart, we can see
how the number of plastic bottles
that are used each year only
increased as time moved forward.
We started out with only 2.8 billion
bottles in 1996, and in just 14
years, we reached 42.6 billion
years. This increase correlates with
the number of plastic water bottles
which are thrown out and with the
number that is recycled.
i. http://www.containerrecycling.org/images/storie
s/previews/bottledwatersale
s2010%20copy.jpg
b. Looking at this chart as well, we can see how the number of plastic water bottles
used in 10 different countries has increased over a time period of just five years.
Taking a look at the United States, we started out with bottling about 17 billion
liters of water; by 2004, just over 25 billion liters of water was being bottled each
year. This increase shows how the usage of water bottles has only increased over
time and still continues to increase despite the move to reduce the number of
plastic bottles consumed each year.
i. http://www.container-recycling.org/images/graphs/plastic/water-consump99-04.gif
8. How are plastic water bottles made?
Oil
a. When plastic water bottles are made from petroleum, the oil is extracted (for
example, from the seafloor).This alone has environmental impacts when resulting
oil spills occur.
b. The oil is then distilled in order to separate the various hydrocarbons which are in
the oil.
c. The oil is moved into container tankers to ship to refinery facilities. The oil goes
through various distillation processes, such as fractional distillation. Here, the
crude oil is heated up, which separates the oil into its various components. They
are separated to allow the refinery to form different products such as gas, fuel, and
plastics.
d. The crude oil is cracked with chemical catalysts to make hydrocarbon lengths.
The hydrocarbons made are mixed together, which triggers polymerization.
(Polymerization is a process which creates polymers to link smaller molecules
together and thus create larger molecules.)
e. Plastic pellets are made next, which are melted down into “preforms.” The
preforms are then heated to cause them to expand and into the plastic water bottle.
Bioplastics
a. Plastic water bottles made from bioplastics are made from plant materials that are
processed to form polymers.
b. They do not require extraction of oil and, in these terms, are therefore more
environmentally friendly. They do, however, require large areas of farmland to
produce the crops for plastic.
c. They have short life cycles as they start to deform and leak on the store shelf if it
is unused for too long.
i. http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-life-cycle-of-a-plastic-bottle.htm
9. What happens if plastic water bottles end up in landfills versus recycling facilities?
a. If plastic water bottles are not recycled, four possibilities are likely. One, they may
end up in landfills. Approximately 12.7% of landfills are composed of plastics,
and it is estimated that it will take up to 1000 years for one plastic bottle to
decompose. Adding more and more plastic water bottles to these landfills not only
takes up valuable spaces but also increases the amount of greenhouse gases which
are emitted.
b. When these plastic water bottles are not recycled, they cannot be reused to make
other products rather than just sitting there in the landfill for hundreds of years.
With the diminishing amount of space left to use as landfills, it will become
difficult to find room to dump all the unrecycled water bottles in. According to the
Environmental Protection Agency, the “number of landfills in the United States
has fallen 79 percent since 1988.” This may seem like there is no problem because
there is a diminishing number of landfills. However, the capacity of each landfill
has increased enormously, defeating this reasoning.
c. If the bottles are not recycled, they may end up as litter. When this occurs, the cost
to clean and dispose of the litter properly increases. They are also a hazard to the
animals as they may choke on the plastic that is littered on the ground.
d. Unrecycled plastic bottles use up more natural resources than recycled ones
because the bottle cannot be used to reused or remake another product. Raw
materials, fuel, natural resources are a few of the things needed to create new
plastic bottles. However, if plastic bottles were recycled, the base of that plastic
alone could be used to make a new plastic bottle using less natural resources than
if no recycled bottle has been used.
i. http://postcom.org/eco/facts.about.landfills.htm
ii. http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/What_Will_Happen_if_You_Do_Not_
Recycle_Plastic