A zero waste alternative to single-use bottles

A drinking bottle. Most people I know have one. You can buy different sorts, in different sizes. It’s an amazing alternative for plastic single-use drinking bottles. A reusable bottles is an item which I always carry with me in my bag, it is a zero waste essential.

Why Recycling isn’t the Solution

Recycling is a weird process for single-use items, absurd if you ask me! You hand in your old bottle for recycling (or not, and so it will be burned or end up in the oceans, an even worse option if you’d ask me), this bottle is brought somewhere to be collected (hi, carbon emissions), this bottle get ‘recycled’ (I put this in quotation marks since plastic can’t be recycled, it down-cycles), this down-cycling takes a lot of resources like water and energy (and creates waste and more carbon emissions), this bottle then travels again to a manufacturer of plastic, then oil is subtracted to make new plastic, a new plastic bottle is made and at last you buy yet again another plastic bottle. You drink the water in the bottle and the whole process starts again. Absurd, because this can all be prevented.

A Reusable Bottle

Wherever I go, I bring a reusable bottle with me in my bag. This means I don’t ever have to buy single-use plastic bottles anywhere. Single-use items are not-done in my opinion, we simply don’t need them. There is clean water coming out of the tap! I’ve been drinking that water since I was born and yes, I am still alive. Tap water in The Netherlands is more than fine.

I am currently using an old coffee-can as a drinking bottle. Nothing new, and maybe even more important, not entirely made out of plastic! It is mostly made out of stainless steel (except for the handles). When my old drinking bottle broke I was looking for an alternative. And since buying new stuff is the most harmful thing for our planet, I went to look for a secondhand bottle. And I found one in my own home, one which nobody was using. Perfect!

There are a few great initiatives for reusable bottles, like Kleen Kanteen, available at WAAR in The Netherlands. My recommendation would be to go for a plastic free brand, stainless steel is 100% recyclable and lasts a lifetime. But most important: choose secondhand. That is the most sustainable option.

In this article you can read why I hate plastic altogether. But for this subject I feel: plastic is just not necessary. Also, there is too much plastic ending up in the oceans already.

About the waste?
The old situation:
– About 365 plastic bottles of waste each year

The new situation:
– Zero waste!

Money

Another great plus: you save money! By making an investment once you don’t ever have to buy a plastic bottles again. In The Netherlands it is estimated that tap water is 210 times cheaper than bottled water. Also, there are many free tap points at stations and city centers.

Do you use a reusable bottle?

Yours sincerely,
Romee