Effects of Plastic Bottles

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Negative Effects of Bottled Water People around the globe believe that bottled water is cleaner and safer to drink than tap water. This resulted into the booming businesses of retailing bottled water which consequently lead to millions of water bottles being accumulated every year. While these water bottles are recyclable, it is not advisable to do so give the chemical components of manufacturing them. Although plastic bottles may be convenient for beverages and other things, they can have a negative impact on the environment. Some off the effects include: polluting in the oceans, increased petroleum usage, and the creation of more landfills. The environmental impacts are worsening due to the increased usage of plastic bottles. Plastic bottle tops are currently not recyclable, and as with plastic bags they often end up at the bottom of the ocean, and in the stomachs of a variety of animal species that mistake them for food. One albatross that was recently found dead on a Hawaiian island had a stomach full of 119 bottle caps. Marine life falls prey to this problem on a daily basis. A sperm whale was found dead on a North American beach recently with a plastic gallon bottle which had gummed up its small intestine. The animal’s body was full of plastic material including other plastic bottles, bottle caps and plastic bags. But when plastic reaches our waters, whether it be plastic bags or drifting fish nets, it poses a threat to the animals that depend on the oceans for food. To a sea turtle, a floating plastic bag looks like a jellyfish. And plastic pellets--the small hard pieces of plastic from which plastic products are made--look like fish eggs to seabirds. Drifting nets entangle birds, fish and mammals, making it difficult, if not impossible to move or eat. As our consumption of plastic mounts, so too does the danger to marine life. Before the days of

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