Drinking water regularly is important for our bodies for a variety of reasons, including keeping you energized throughout the day, but to maintain this regular consumption, we can become reliant on single-use plastics such as plastic cups or single-use bottles, the majority of which will end up in landfill or in the natural environment.

While Thirsty Work, as part of our environmental policy, have already taken steps to help you reduce your plastic waste production, including introducing our range of paper cups, switching to a re-useable water bottle can prove to be a cheaper, more environmentally friendly and more convenient option to keep you topped-up throughout the day.

Environmental Benefits

While the reduction in plastic waste associated with using a re-useable bottle may be obvious, helping to reduce the 13 billion plastic bottles currently thrown away in the UK each year, there are many other environmental benefits to owning a re-usable bottle.

In the US alone, to produce the upwards of 50 billion water bottles required each year, 17 million barrels of oil are required, totalling more than 2 and a half trillion litres, further contributing to climate change and impacting the environment.

Once these bottles have been produced, they need to be filled, and most bottled water is sourced from places with limited supplies, where this water is extracted and distributed globally rather than being used at source where it is needed. Nestle’s bottled water has even contributed to a water shortage in Pakistan.

Distributing all of these bottles around the globe also requires the use of planes and lorries, releasing even more pollution into the atmosphere, especially as planes are the release more greenhouse gasses than any other mode of transportation.

Health Benefits

As well as the environmental benefits, there is also a significant health benefit to using re-useable water bottles. Bottled water has been found to have significantly more microplastics per litre than tap water, which can cause health problems.

Bottled water is also not tested as regularly as tap water, which may affect the quality of the water and have potential health impacts, whereas refilling your bottle from a tap or water cooler ensures that your water is safe to drink.

Cost Benefits

Bottled water can also come with a significant price tag. 90% of the cost of a bottle of water comes from making the bottle, which for something you are going to use once and then throw in the bin could be seen as literally throwing money away.

Bottled water, as we have seen above, is also usually sourced from other nations, and once bottled require distribution around the globe, the cost of which is reflected in the price, leading to people spending around 300 times more for bottled water than they would from the tap.

What Can I Do?

As we can see, the benefits of switching from disposable to re-useable bottles not only helps the environment, but also your health and your wallet. And with such a vast rang online, you’re bound to find something you like. And if you’re looking for something more personal, keep an eye out on Thirsty Work’s website for exciting new additions to our range coming soon!