By Staff
An average American guzzles 166 bottles of water annually, convinced it's a healthy alternative to soda.
But what about the 80 percent of unrecycled plastic water bottles that end up in landfills?
It takes an estimated thousand years for a plastic water bottle to decompose.
Plastic water bottles are made from petroleum.
Trucks haul millions of gallons of bottled water a year, even though they consume fuel and contribute to air pollution.
Imported brands can travel thousands of miles.
A bottle backlash is brewing.
Some upscale restaurants, from San Francisco to Manhattan, are phasing out bottled water in favor of turning on their taps.
One proudly serves local water in a glass carafe rather than imported H2O in a throwaway container.
The bottle backlash also stretches beyond eateries.
San Francisco in June joined Los Angeles and Salt Lake City in making it illegal to spend city money on bottled water.
We'll drink to that.