Reusable Plastic Bottles, Why Not Use Them?

by Sarah Schliesmann

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. That’s all it takes to be Green, right? While being Green and environmentally friendly is the new “it” thing to do, everyone is trying to participate in those three undertakings.  What our problem seems to be is the reuse portion of this mantra. While we appear to be cutting back on our ridiculous need for packaging (don’t even get me started on Styrofoam peanuts) and seem to be making a conscientious choice to recycle more (you can see like, at least one recycling bin in every building!) what we have a major lack of is reusing. Though I could go on and on for pages about all the big problems that we have with reusing buildings or technology, I’ll refrain; instead I’m going to focus on something small. Plastic bottles.

Of course, when talking about plastic bottles, the assumption is that we have two choices, continue using the single use plastic bottles or use a Nalgene/similar reusable bottle. Well, despite popular belief, there are actually more than two choices out there for people looking for portable beverages. What is this other option you may be wondering?

In Europe, they make their soda bottles, juice bottles or whatever other kinds of plastic bottles reusable.  The plastic that they use is thick, and made to be used multiple times, so when you are finishing drinking your beverage of choice, you “recycle” it for later uses. But this is not a recycled in the sense that your bottle will be remade into another bottle or whatever other kind of material, but instead will be reused as a bottle. Simple, right? Instead of constantly going through the process of destroying and rebuilding to recycle, they clean the plastic bottle and use it again. This sounds so elementary, using bottles as bottles, right? Why is it then that we cannot do it over here on this side of the pond? Using these bottles will not be making a life altering change for those that use them; most wouldn’t even notice a difference. It cuts down on plastic waste and is a way for those people that do not use “normal” reusable water bottles a way to still have less impact on the environment.

I’m still looking for a problem here that is preventing us to use these reusable plastic bottles. While I understand that people can be concerned about sanitation and other health concerns, I don’t see how it is founded. Other countries have been using these kinds of bottles for years and years, if there were any kind of health concerns with these products, do you think they would still be used globally? To me, the logical answer is no, and there are none. The bottles are fully and completely cleaned before rebottling, it is sanitary and safe.

So, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Reusable plastic bottles do all three. They have less environmental impact then one-use plastic bottles and are not a earth shattering change to make. It’s time to start looking at multiple sides of issues than simply seeing black and white. One use plastic or Nalgene.  

Reusable plastic bottles, why not use them?