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MILLIONS of tonnes of discarded water bottles are pouring into Britain’s landfill sites each year – and they will take around 1,000 years to biodegrade.
Transporting the 3bn bottles of water the UK guzzles each year is creating a huge carbon footprint.
Which is why today the Liverpool Daily Post is launching its Tap Into Water campaign.
In conjunction with the region’s water supplier, United Utilities, we are asking readers to drop bottled water in favour of tap water.
Turning to tap is one of the easiest ways to go green and save money at the same time.
One in six – some 500,000 – of the bottles UK consumers buy each year are shipped or flown in from overseas – some from as far away as Fiji.
That contributes to the 33,000 tonnes of CO² it takes to transport the water, the same amount as 6,000 homes produce in a year.
United Utilities say their water has a carbon footprint 300 times smaller than some bottled brands. Their 2008 statistics show a litre of tap produces 1.66g of carbon, while a litre of average bottled water needs 0.6kg to collect, bottle and ship.
The natural run-off of water from the North Wales and Lake District mountains means United Utilities water has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the UK.
United Utilities chief executive Philip Green said: “At a time when we are facing such huge environmental challenges, buying bottled water at the rate of 3bn bottles a year in the UK is unsustainable.”
Britain’s Consumer Council for Water say it would cost £500 a year to drink the recommended eight glasses of water a day if you fill up on bottled water. The same amount of tap water costs just £1.
Daily Post deputy editor Alison Gow said: “There doesn’t seem to be an easier way of reducing our carbon footprints than turning on the tap. We’ve got top-quality water flowing right into our homes and offices – so why spend hundreds each year on something that’s damaging the environment?”
The Daily Post will be giving away thousands of reusable water bottles to the region’s school children to encourage them to fill up at the tap.
We will also be urging Merseyside’s restaurateurs to offer tap water as an alternative to bottled brands.
Look out for the United Utilities water bar making trips to the city centre, where you can collect your own bottle for life.
