Potable Plastics Hack

Most people continue to use plastic water bottles by the caseloads even though they know about the disastrous and humongous pile that ends up in our landfills and oceans! Now is the time to ditch the plastic bottle for good! Here is how:

Read your local water quality report. You can find it either with your water department or electric company. The city water quality report is done by professionals whose job it is to make sure your water is up to federal standards for water quality. If your water pipes are made of lead, then you can also find out this information and travel out of town to get your drinking and cooking water. However, for the rest of you who can read and understand the plain language of these reports, you are now put on notice that you have been buying the same water from the store that you can get for free out of your tap! Oh, yeah, by the way, you can use a plastic water bottle, the good kind like DASANI or other good brands to refill over and over again! Read my article called, Plastic Pretenders. They do collect manganese black crap, but this is easy to scrub off. Just get a variety of small to large sizes and then stop buying anymore at all.

In fact, you spend so much time believing the bottled water sellers hype about how much cleaner and healthier is their same water that you have totally missed the important message freeing your pocketbook and obligations to lug heavy and expensive water bottles to your house or business. Do you know what is ignorant and pathetic? Everyone fills their cold drink cup with tap water ice and never think twice about how clean or tasty it is. This is crazy! The money part is easy. Go ahead. Add up the real costs of buying bottled water or other drinks like soda. If you are truly honest and have a calculator, then you probably already know that you spend enough on bottled drinks to fill your gas tank with gas every week.

What you should be doing is buying a few really good 28oz, 40 oz. to 128 oz. double-lined refillable and washable metal water containers. Here is a picture of mine. I love it…a lot.

Using a little of your time to fill your water container, you can take it with you to work, play, go out, or even have it sitting around in your house available to take a sip anytime. I fill mine usually twice per day with plain old tap water because it is only a 40 oz – there are smaller ones that fit your cup holder in the car, but I prefer a little larger container. When I fill it with tap water at my sink, I usually add about three or four cubes of ice to make it real cold (the ice cubes are just your basic house tap water). These double-lined metal water thermoses typically keep cold drinks cold for about twenty-four hours and hot drinks hot for about twelve. It works! I have tried it out myself and am extremely happy with my jug. It goes with me everywhere, is easy to carry and handle, and I can always refill it at any store if I happen to run out. Because, you see, they also have tap water regulations and standards. They are on the same water system as everyone else and the water is free! Just ask.

If you are worried about how much heavier they are, there are some metal water jugs and some plastic ones available that you can sling over your shoulder to carry it. Both are refillable and washable. Be responsible for the massive amount of waste you produce. Stop using plastic bottles all together. Now, I know you may balk at giving up your sodas and other plastic or paper bottles on the market, but the truth is that you can make the changes necessary to save our planet and yourself. To replace the sodas, make iced tea, lemonade, juice, coffee, milk or Kool-Aid and fill your jug with that instead. They are all much cheaper than bought sodas that are bad for your waistline and the planet. 

Oh yeah, you can add a few cubes of ice to your jug, and it stays cold a very long time. And I bet if we all collectively stop using the plastic on the market that the cola companies and others would switch to liquid dispensaries at stores. No plastic throwaway containers, lids, or straws allowed. Hey, what would that be like? You go into the convenience store, fill up your jug (many jugs have built-in straws), take it to the checkout, and simply pay for a fill-up! The water is usually free. It would probably be much cheaper than the plastic bottles price anyway!

This dispensing method is already used at many convenience stores out there, you just need to get used to using them daily and demanding more at places like grocery stores or other large gathering areas. The water spickets at parks are free to use to fill up your bottles or jugs, then take them home or to your business. Use them. You helped pay for them using your tax dollars. Go ahead and check out your local water quality report. Verify this information for yourself! It only takes a call or go online, and you can read about how many parts per billion is lead or other minerals in your tap water. They will tell you if the water from your faucet meets the standards and how they collect, measure, and analyze for the report.

It is up to you to stop wasting your money and polluting the planet! It is up to all of us to demand changes that eliminate waste that endangers the planet and our human existence. Earth is the only home we have. Just as your body is the only temple your spirit has. Treat both with respect and drink pure clean water in its natural state. Both the planet and your body are made up of mostly water anyway. You are what you take out of it and what you put into it. Both need to be potable (drinkable) and free of plastics to survive!

Copyright, Potable Plastics Hack, 8/9/2022, April Graves-Minton, Love MoonEagle. All Rights Reserved.