The UK Uses 15 Million Plastic Bottles A Day!

When did you last buy one?

Around the world we consume 50 billion bottles of water every year. The good news is that this means most of us are aware of the importance of staying hydrated throughout the day – whether we’re playing sport or working in an office.

But with this comes the massive environmental damage resulting from the manufacturing and disposing of several million plastic bottles every day.

Here in the United Kingdom we use around 275,000 tonnes of plastic each year, the equivalent to around 15 million bottles per day. However, we appear to be less concerned about our planet than we are our bodies – as statistics show that only 24% of plastic is recycled and recovered, and every year the average family throws away around 40kg of plastic that could otherwise be recycled. (Governments across the world are keen to reduce C02 emissions and offer assistance via website such as https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/reducing-and-managing-waste)

The numbers are even less encouraging across the pond, with Americans buying an estimated 42.6 billion bottles every year, with almost eight out of ten ending up being disposed in landfill instead of recycled.

Unfortunately, wherever in the world that plastic water bottles are used, they usually end up in landfill. Plastic takes up to 500 years to decompose, so this is far from an eco-friendly method of disposal. But the environmental damage doesn’t stop there – 17 million barrels of oil are used in the manufacture of plastic bottles every year, not to mention the emissions from their packaging, transport and refrigeration.

This massive environmental impact is the reason that many schools, clubs and offices are trying to reduce their use of plastic bottles. And at MIW we have been glad to spread awareness of these issues and provide solutions to help them improve their eco-friendly credentials.

MIW works with dozens of schools, colleges and universities where large groups of people need regular hydration throughout the day. We’ve helped these institutions to reduce their plastic bottle waste by supplying them with high performance, refrigerated bottle fillers that students and employees can use to refill their own sports bottles throughout the day. By doing this we have helped to educate the youth on the importance of being eco-friendly, while also saving them some money otherwise spent on expensive bottled water.

The Halsey Taylor HTHB-HAC8 bottle filler dispenses refrigerated water through a chrome-plated bubbler tap at a rate of 1.5 gallons per minute, but despite this impressive performance it is one of the most eco-friendly units on the market. A motion sensor starts and stops water flow to reduce any waste during busy periods, and an LED display counts the number of plastic bottles that have been saved from landfill by being refilled.  This gives students and staff a reminder of the importance of reducing environmental waste, while helping them keep track of their progress so far.

For more information on the HTHB-HAC8 refrigerated bottle filler, or to see how we could help you reduce your environmental impact with an eco-friendly hydration solution, why not get in touch today? Contact Ian Burdett or Mike Winter, tel 01207 572 000