The plastic bottle problem has plagued us ever since we started to mass manufacture plastic bottles. These bottles don’t only cause us to fill up our landfills with plastic particles that make their way into our oceans, but these plastic bottles also consume a lot of our natural resources, and emit harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
As we’re getting more and more into the environmentally conscious lifestyle, we constantly seek out alternatives to plastic – that goes for our plastic bottles as well. Fortunately nature has provided us with a metal and element that is in the top ranks of replacing plastic bottles for good: Aluminum.
Why is Aluminum the Solution to the Plastic Bottle Problem?
According to bottled water company, My Own Water, aluminum water bottles are much better for you and the environment, and are poised to become an eco-friendly alternative to the wastes produced by plastic water bottles. The material is sustainable, whereas plastic is not.
You can find aluminum water bottles in a very few, select companies that can do customization and production. Aluminum bottles aren’t new, but their popularity versus plastic bottles differs greatly, mainly because plastic is still considered cheaper than aluminum.
My Own Water has aluminum bottles that are 100% recyclable, and pure. You can read more about their efforts to conserve natural resources, and reduce the waste that goes into the environment on their website: myownwater.com/aluminum-water-bottles
How Sustainable is Aluminum?
So how sustainable is aluminum, really? We always hear of sustainable and eco-friendly materials here and there, but is there some truth to it or is it just another marketing ploy to sell more products? According to The Aluminum Association, the material is one of the most sustainable materials used in almost every industry: from construction to beverages and food.
Some aluminum used today are derived from the same aluminum products in the 1920’s, but have gone through generations of recycling throughout its lifetime. Simply put, aluminum may not be the top most sustainable material, but it certainly is one of the best and most used in reducing our carbon footprint.
100% Recyclable
Aluminum can be recycled over and over again, and most recycling facilities have no qualms about accepting aluminum bottles – though they may have a different reaction to aluminum cans lined with plastic.
Recycled aluminum maintains the same purity it had in its previous form, and aluminum is recycled through heating it at its melting point. Recycled aluminum also takes up only 5% of the total energy and resources needed to mine and produce materials from raw aluminum. The effort is also worth it, as aluminum keeps its colour and properties even after recycling.
Reuseable
Aluminum is highly durable. You may be thinking of the flimsy aluminum foil you have at home, but because aluminum foil has been pressured into an extremely thin layer of metal, it is more prone to folding and breaking than a thick, aluminum block.
Aluminum bottles are reusable again and again without breaking down or leaching toxic substances. In fact, there have been documented cases where aluminum containers that were made in the 1900’s and beyond still contained a vacuum seal, as well as food that was still moist and in one piece, albeit no longer safe for consumption at its age.
Purely Aluminum
When aluminum is pure, it is endlessly recyclable. However, most aluminum cans used for carbonated soft drinks are lined with a thin layer of plastic, making it unrecyclable, and harmful to your health.
Pure aluminum, found as aluminum foil and in high quality bottles, is an amazingly sustainable resource, and is actually used as a recycled material around 70% of the time. Aluminum stays pure, as long as no fillers are added to it, and is both durable yet decomposes in half the time it takes plastic to decompose.
Does Aluminum have Side Effects in Taste or Health?
Unlike plastic water bottles, which may leach harmful chemicals into the water and the environment, pure aluminum water bottles don’t have any water-soluble particles that may make you sick. The water you’re drinking from an aluminum bottle is the pure, unsullied water that tastes exactly the same as the day it was bottled.
Healthwise, aluminum does not interfere with the water in it. Aluminum is simply the vessel where the water is carried in, and does not dissolve or meddle with the properties of water. Think about your reusable tumblers, and how water tastes the same no matter how long you keep it there. That is basically the same principle with aluminum water bottles.
