Bottled up

Vegetarian Times, June, 2005

Sales of bottled water increased from 3.3 billion in 1997 to 19.2 billion in 2003, but only about 11 percent of the bottles were recycled. That means that more than 17 billion wound up in landfills. "There are two reasons bottles aren't recycled," Jenny Gitlitz, research director of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), tells VT.

"First, people often buy bottled water when they're not at home where the recycling bin is. Second, there's often no economic incentive to return refundable deposits." Where bottle laws exist, 80 percent them because only 11 states have 'bottle laws' requiring says. Want to know more? Visit CRI's Web site, container-recycling.org.