The Facts: Fifty billion bottles of water are consumed each year in the United States, about 137 million bottles every day.  About one quarter of these bottles are recycled (through an extremely energy intensive process).  Each day, Americans throw out 103 million plastic water bottles.

Some claim bottled water is safer or tastes better than tap water.  Consider this: both Aquafina (PepsiCo) and Dasani (Coca-Cola Company) originate from municipal water systems.   In blind taste-tests, most people can’t tell the difference between bottled water and tap water.  And, plastic bottles often leach chemicals into the water they hold.

Here is a trailer for “Tapped” a documentary about the bottled water industry:

Why should Christians care about bottled water?

Using a refillable container instead of buying bottled water is an easy way to live out Christ’s message of mercy.  When we use a refillable container, we don’t consume the energy for producing and transporting a disposable plastic bottle.  We also don’t consume the energy to recycle or dispose of the plastic bottle.  While this may seem like a small measure, the cumulative effects make a difference.  You can stop the production of 50 billion plastic bottles by using one refillable bottle.