A Comprehensive Analysis: The Case for Banning Bottled Water Sales

This essay critically examines the environmental consequences of bottled water consumption and proposes a ban on its sale. It begins by highlighting the rapid increase in bottled water consumption globally and its convenience, but emphasizes the irreparable environmental damage caused by plastic waste. The essay delves into the environmental costs associated with plastic bottle production, including the use of fossil fuels, water consumption, and energy requirements. It then details the post-consumer environmental impact, such as land and ocean pollution, and the harm to marine life. The author addresses counterarguments, such as the convenience of bottled water and the potential for increased consumption of sweetened beverages, refuting them with evidence. The conclusion reiterates the devastating impact of plastic waste and the urgent need for a ban on bottled water sales to protect the environment. The essay cites multiple sources to support its arguments.

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Should the Sale of Bottled Water be Banned?
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Introduction
The thing of convenience often comes with an irreparable damage.’ Bottled waters’
which was once a thing of few rich people is now regarded as a convenience of modern life. Sale
of bottled waters has seen huge rise in USA and in other parts of the world as well. In USA
alone, total consumption of bottled waters has reached over 10 billion gallons and total
wholesale sales crossed $12 billion (Engels, 2018). With the increase in consumerism, the
consumption of bottled waters is rising rapidly in USA and other parts of the world that include
Asia, and South America. As per 2013 figure, worldwide total consumption of bottled waters
stand at 70.4 billion gallons and latest data puts the figure at over 150 billion gallons. People use
bottled waters for various reasons, the most important of which is the health reason as bottled
water companies claim to provide purified water through multiple layers of reverse osmosis,
deionization and distillation. The other most important reason for bottled water consumption is
the convenience that they provide while carrying them. People can carry bottled waters of any
size as per convenience wherever they want to easily and at an affordable price.
Much of the market share of bottled water sales is occupied by giants like PepsiCo, Coke
and Nestle all over the world. These companies have launched aggressive campaign to encourage
use of bottled waters among consumers by various means of advertising and promotions. Having
said that, it is not the corporatization of drinking waters that is causing concern but it is the
unwarranted environmental impact of huge number of thrown away bottles that is causing worry
for the future. Plastic bottles in such huge numbers cause severe irreparable damages to our
environment. Damages that are caused by plastic bottles collected as environmental waste in
such large numbers far exceed the potential benefits of using them. Thus, in order to protect our

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environment from irreparable damage caused by huge amount of plastic waste, it is in our greater
interest that plastic bottled water should be banned from sales in US and elsewhere (Goldschein,
2011).
Environmental impact of plastic water bottles
Environmental impact of plastic water bottles can be categorized into two parts; impact at the
time of production i.e. when plastic bottles are manufactured and impact after use i.e. when
plastic bottles are thrown after use. Let us see them one by one.
Environmental cost at the time of production
It is estimated that to produce the required number of bottles for water packaging, amount
of oil as good as 17 million barrels is used every year (Goldschein, 2011). Fossil fuel reserve is
already on the decline across the globe which is a huge concern in itself. Moreover, use of fossil
fuels in such large numbers cause severe air, land and water pollution which is not at all
acceptable in any scenario. Petroleum product polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is used to
make water bottles require use of fossil fuel both for manufacturing and transport. Nevertheless,
bottle manufacturing for packaging of water also consumes thrice the quantity of water a bottle
can carry. Water used in the manufacturing process of bottles becomes nothing but waste water.
Hence, manufacturing also causes degradation of limited water resources of our planet. In terms
of energy requirement, bottled water of a given quantity requires energy as much as 2000 times
more than the energy needed to produce the same quantity of tap water. All these estimates of
energy loss to produce water bottles and the resulting environmental degradation is enough to
prove that severe degradation of environment and its resources start with the manufacturing of
the bottles.

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Environmental cost after use
Plastic water bottles that we use are mostly for one time use and dump. When we dump
bottles, they get collected somewhere and fill up lands, rivers, and oceans. According to
Thompson (2017), “there are 46000 plastic pieces in the form of trash polluting ocean within
every one square mile distance” (Thompson, 2017). Environmentalists have raised flag and
warned that the plastics floating in the ocean are continuously on the rise and hampering the eco-
system of the ocean significantly. More recently, lots of marine animals have been found dead
and scientists have indicated that deaths of these large animals are due to consumption of plastics
from the surface of ocean (Reddy, 2018). However, these ocean and sea plastic is only a little
part of the overall plastic waste generated. Much of the plastic waste generated i.e. more than
eighty percent ends up filling lands; these overflowing landfills cause severe land and fresh water
pollution on the land surface. Plastics do not decompose easily and hence the impact of land
pollution is a lasting one and irreversible. The harmful and dangerous chemicals leaked by
plastic waste are known to pose several health risks to humans. In USA alone, across the nation,
around sixty million plastic bottles are generated as waste as per latest figure. Just imagine the
overall environmental impact of these bottles and what may happen if numbers are not brought
down.
On the basis of the arguments above, it is clear that use of plastic bottled waters and the
subsequent disposal of plastic waste are turning out to be disastrous for our environment. So, in
order to safeguard our environment and protect our lands and ocean from the disastrous impact
of plastic pollution, plastic bottled waters should be ban completely.

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Counter arguments and refutations
Some opponents argue that bottled waters are a great convenience for consumers for
carrying water and banning them would discourage a healthy choice of drinking water and
encourage people to drink sweetened beverages which will bring greater health concerns.
Opponents of the ban argue that tap waters are not as clean and healthy for drinking as bottled
waters and banning bottled waters would deprive people of the right to cleaner and healthier
choice. According to procon.org, a leading website on pros and cons of topics, “ban on plastic
bottled waters as a way of saving the environment is a misguided approach as other beverages
are sold on containers that are much more harmful” (ProCon.Org, 2018). Blond, in his article, ‘3
Reasons the Government Should Not Ban Bottled Water Sales Because of Global Warming’
argues that, “bottled waters are very useful during calamities such as tornado, flood, hurricane
and earthquake to distribute waters among the victims of calamities and banning them would
leave relief workers with no or less viable options to go about their work.” Blond quotes WHO
statement which says, “The use of bottled waters is important during natural disasters” and
attempts to drive home the argument that bottled waters should not be banned (Blond, 2015).
These arguments in favor of plastic bottled waters seem to be one dimensional. It can
always be expected of people to be aware of the health benefits of water and health implications
of sweetened beverages. Argument that people would take up other sweetened beverages is
nothing but a pre conceived ideas and can never be justification to let plastic bottles wreck havoc
on our environment. Similarly argument that other beverages are sold on much more harmful
containers lacks credibility, tin containers for beer and sweetened beverages can never be more
harmful than plastics. However, the argument that plastic bottles are useful during natural
calamities cannot be denied but we can always have provisions for limited plastic bottles during

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such calamities. We should not allow plastic waste to continue impacting our environment just
because they are useful during calamities.
Conclusion
The sales of plastic bottled waters have witnessed a sharp rise in recent years and the
industry has become worth billion dollars in no time. Bottled waters are convenient for people to
carry and also allow safe drinking water option for people where tap waters are contaminated.
However, alongside these advantages bottled waters also leave devastating impact on
environment leaving billions of tons of trashes in oceans and landfills. Manufacturing of plastic
bottles eat up large quantities of fossil fuels and results in waste of huge amount of waters.
Plastic wastes create oceanic pollution and disturbs the ecological balance of marine life killing
animals and increasing carbon footprint. The impact of plastic wastes in land is more devastating
as eighty percent of total waste fills up lands of the earth and release toxic and carcinogenic
pollutants. All these arguments provide solid reasons for supporting ban on plastic bottled
waters. Arguments that plastic bottled waters are useful in natural calamities alone are not
sufficient to let them continue wreck havoc on our environment. Thus, plastic bottled waters
should be banned from sale to safeguard our environment from the devastating effect of plastic
waste.

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References
Blond, B. (2015, 05 20). Newsmax. Retrieved from https://www.newsmax.com:
https://www.newsmax.com/fastfeatures/global-warming-bottled-water-ban/2015/05/20/id/
645643/
Engels, J. (2018). One Green Planet. Retrieved from https://www.onegreenplanet:
https://www.onegreenplanet.org/environment/plastic-water-bottles-and-the-oceans/
Goldschein, E. (2011, 10 27). Business Insider. Retrieved from
https://www.businessinsider.com: https://www.businessinsider.com/facts-bottled-water-industry-
2011-10?IR=T#in-taste-tests-tap-water-consistently-ranks-at-or-above-the-level-of-bottled-
water-10
ProCon.Org. (2018, 06 14). ProCon.Org. Retrieved from https://www.procon.org:
https://www.procon.org/headline.php?headlineID=005401
Reddy, S. (2018, 09 24). Pew. Retrieved from https://www.pewtrusts.org:
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2018/09/24/plastic-pollution-affects-
sea-life-throughout-the-ocean
Thompson, A. (2017, 11). GOGREEN. Retrieved from www.gogreen.org:
www.gogreen.org/blog/impacts-of-plastic-water-bottles

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