40 million bottles a day

Why doesn't the gym recycle? That question has always gnawed at me for years. It has become particularly dominant recently as I have been aware of the extreme explosion in the consumption of water bottles, the large carbon footprint of each bottle and inexcusable abdication of recycling responsibilities by wealthy corporations.

First, bottled water consumption has doubled over the past decade. Specifically, there are approximately 15 billion water bottles now consumed a year. So what you say? People also enjoy soda, beer, and sports drink. The difference is that bottled waters is usually consumed at the gym, on the train, while walking and the office (also in the car- but since I live in NYC, I'll shelve that problem). Because these places are not residential, there are few opportunities to recycle. As a result, some forty million bottles about 87% of all water bottles are trashed each day. Wrong? Yes. Solvable? Yes.

Why report? Why bother? Excellent question.

Toxic byproducts such as chlorine gas and are produced when bottles are incinerated.

Water bottles that are not incinerated but buried take 1,000 years to biodegrade.

By some estimates 40% of PET bottles were exported to China for recycling demonstrating the high need for domestic bottles. There are simply to few people recycling in the US threatening the livelihood of the domestic plastics recycling industry.

What are the solutions?

First of course is to go nalgene or some other way that elements or drastically cut consumption of water bottles in the first place. Short of that, a few concrete solutions do come to mind.

First, comes with the understanding that about 30% of soda bottles are recycled. This is because they are consumed in the home. Logically, then we should have opportunities to recycle outside the home. Specifically there must be recycling opportunities at the gym, where an unbelievable number of bottles thrown in the trash as a result of there being no onsite recycling option.

Second, create a financial incentive for recycling water bottles. There is no reason that water bottles should be exempted for the recycling deposit levied soda cans and bottles.

Thirdly, and simply, report or speak to business that do not recycle so that they will be forced to comply creating a greater supply of plastic available for recycling and reuse. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dsny/html/contact/requests_comm_recycling.shtml. Report abuse!