Plastic is all around us. It’s used as storage containers, phone cases and shampoo bottles. One of the most pervasive plastic-made items comes in the form of water bottles. These water bottles are created to be used once, and then discarded. Once a bottle is thrown in the trash, it may not be thought of again.

However, a plastic water bottle’s journey does not end in the trash can. 

“For every type of material, plastic bottles are among the top litter items that end up in the environment and in oceans,” said Taylor Maddalene, a doctoral candidate in environmental engineering at the University of Georgia.

The Plastic Problem

In 2019, 22 metric tons of plastic were dumped into the environment. Plastic is non-biodegradable, meaning it does not break down naturally and can exist in the environment for many, many years. Plastic water bottles are one of the main sources of plastic waste. 

Reusable water bottles have been gaining popularity, and many are marketed as a solution to the plastic problem. It has become a major global industry, with the reusable water bottle market being valued at $9.82 billion in 2023. They are meant to be used regularly over an extended period of time in lieu of using plastic and to prevent the ingestion of harmful microplastics found in plastic water bottles.

“From an environmental perspective, from a health perspective, even from an economic perspective, it makes a lot of sense to use reusable bottles,” Maddalene said. 

Despite the merits of reusable water bottles, consumers may be buying too many of them to have a lasting impact on the environment. Americans, on average, own about seven reusable bottles. When they are not discarded properly or they are thrown away too frequently, they, too, can have an adverse effect on the environment, according to Maddalene.

Nevertheless, reusable water bottles are a step in the right direction in fixing the plastic problem.

Valeria Campos is a senior majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.