When It Comes to Drinking Water, DEQ Confirms: 'Reduce First, then Recycle'

Here is the latest from Oregon DEQ on bottled water versus reusable/refillable bottles.  

(Note from Thorn:  I found this to be somewhat of a "duh" moment but the "controversy" was that it was more resource intensive to manufacture, wash and refill a reusable bottle than to use a single use bottle and recycle it.  In technical parlance, DEQ has performed a life-cycle analysis and found the life-cycle costs of reusable bottles are significantly lower than bottled water bottles.  Folks may think that they can reuse the bottle that bottled water comes in but I caution those persons that there are studies showing that these bottles do start leaching petrochemicals into the water after being washed, frozen, etc.)

If you think it makes more sense to drink tap water in reusable bottles rather than to keep buying bottled water and recycling the containers, you’re absolutely right.

A recent DEQ analysis of drinking water delivery systems confirms that it’s best to reduce or reuse first, then recycle.

The DEQ study compared dozens of scenarios and examined a range of environmental effects across the entire life cycle of single-use, five-gallon reusable and tap water delivery methods.

Among the conclusions:

• Buying and then recycling a typical bottle of water reduces energy consumption by 24 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 16 percent over the entire life cycle, compared to buying then throwing way the same water bottle.

• However, consuming the same quantity of water from the tap in a reusable bottle reduces energy consumption by 85 percent and greenhouse gases by 79 percent (compared to buying bottled water and disposing of each bottle).

“The most important message for consumers is: reduce first, then recycle,” says DEQ solid waste policy analyst David Allaway.

“Drinking tap water and recycling single-use bottles are equally effective ways of keeping waste out of landfills and incinerators, but DEQ’s study shows that most effects on the environment from bottled water occur from manufacturing and transportation, not disposal … If you have single-use water bottles, please recycle them. But it’s better to avoid them in the first place."