As I was reaching into the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water to bring to a basketball game, my Dad started saying how he could not believe that I, along with so many other people, would spend money for something they could get out of the tap for free. I’m not alone.
It seems that nowadays everyone I know just brings plastic water bottles everywhere they go. Then, without thinking, they just throw them out in the garbage instead of placing them with plastic recyclables. Aside from the money, this simple action may prove harmful to the environment.
Previous generations wouldn’t have thought twice about drinking from the tap or even the backyard hose. So why recently have bottled water sales taken off? Is it the taste? I recently took a taste test with my family, and we could not tell the difference between water from a plastic bottle and tap water.
Is it the convenience? I honestly do not think it is that much harder to go to the sink and fill up a thermos or cup rather than just grabbing a bottled water. So, the question is, why do so many people spend the extra money on something they can simply get for free, especially when tap water is more healthy than it used to be with all the tests the state now requires on our water supply?
Think of how many people are wasting precious plastic by throwing their bottles away when they are finished drinking them instead of recycling. Sure, we have all done it once or twice without thinking, but imagine how much future damage we could cause to the environment if we continue down this road. Evidence has clearly shown that recycling will have a positive impact on the environment.
So, the next time you leave to go to a basketball game or need some water to take for a school lunch, try to take a couple of extra seconds out of your busy day to grab a refillable container and fill it with tap water. In the end, it will be worth it. Just think, by doing this you will likely be making a difference for the better for the next generation. And, as an added bonus, if you put that $1.25 you would have otherwise spent buying a single water bottle away in a jar each day, 10 years from now you would have saved yourself nearly $5,000.
Marissa Wade is a seventh-grader at the Academy of the Holy Names in Albany.
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