As a swimmer it is very important to keep hydrated. I cannot imagine the number of water bottles I would go through a week or even a day if I were to use plastic bottles. My family made the decision to switch to reusable water bottles. The problem with plastic bottles is that even though they can be recycled, more than 85 percent of the water bottles will end up in landfills or be incinerated, according to the National Parks and Recreation Association. Not only that, but it takes a massive amount of energy to produce and transport these bottles, and almost three million tons of plastic is used every year to produce them. Next time you need a drink of water on the go or even at home, think of all the ways that drink will affect the environment.

I'm a swimmer as well, and I totally see your point in this. Even at school, i drink at least one full bottle of water. I always make it a habit to recycle them, but I can see not everyone does. In my school, there are recycle bins in every classroom and in the cafeteria. In addition to this, they gave us really sturdy tumblrs so that we could use those instead of constantly going through the plastic water bottles. 80% of waste from schools is recyclable so everyone could save a lot of money in waste management expenses by tossing plastics and papers in the recycle bin, and it would be less harmful to the environment if it wasn't dumped in a landfill. .

I am also a swimmer, and I find that water is always a problem for me. Now, I don't even keep track of how many bottles I go through in a day. Up until a few years ago, my mom would always carry a pack of plastic water bottles for my sister and I to use during practice. However, we would always run out of water in the middle of practice and have to use multiple bottles. Seeing how this has become such a big problem, my family chose to switch to reusable water bottles, which can easily be filled up whenever we need more water. While these plastic water bottles can be recycled, about 90% of them end up in our landfills. According to "How Long Does It Take a Plastic Bottle to Biodegrade?" by Kari O'Conner, it takes at least 450 years for a bottle to completely degrade. For some bottles, it takes 1000 years to biodegrade. Another problem also arises when people are unwilling to place these plastic bottles in recycling bins. While recycling bins are all over the place, people do not make the effort to utilize them. Honestly, I believe it's much easier to just carry around a r eusable water bottle. I hope people will work to make the smart choice to use reusable water bottles instead of plastic ones.

Staying hydrated is very important, and recently, I've noticed that I've been drinking more water. Sometimes, I forget to refill my reusable water bottle at home, and I end up running out of the house with a plastic water bottle. On those days, I challenge myself to not throw away the water bottle and reuse the plastic bottle for as long as I can.

As a swimmer as well, i completely understand where you're coming from. Recently i have been drinking more water than ever and i noticed plastic water bottles piling high in the corner of my room, so i decided to make a change. But instead of buying a new expensive water bottle, I have decided to start reusing those plastic bottles that i so excessively used. This has not only helped reduce my carbon footprint, but it has also helped me save more money, and increase the amount of water that i drink.