Using tap water has economic and environmental advantages

Bottled water and the environment: have you ever thought about it?²

• the biggest bottled water consumers (litres per capita in 2017): 1. Mexico (254) 2. Thailand (218) 3. Italy (182) 4. USA (159) 5. Germany (143)
• +8.7% Italian consumption per capita between 2017 and 2016, with total consumption of 12,650 million litres
• 900,000 plastic bottles are sold every minute worldwide (in 2016)
• only 10% of bottles are made of glass, only 20% of plastic bottles are shipped by rail, only 38% of bottles are recycled

Life cycle analysis assesses all the interactions a product has with the environment over its entire lifespan and thus evaluates its every single impact on the environment. A study comparing tap water with bottled water assessed the energy needed for production and CO₂ emissions.

[1] Source: processing of Legambiente data, Regioni imbottigliate 2018 and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, The new plastic economy 2016.
[2] Source: Statista The Statistics Portal 2017, Mineracqua 2017, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, The new plastic economy 2016, Legambiente Acque in bottiglia 2018.