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 2018): 1. Mexico (274) 2. Thailand (274) 3.Italy (190) 4. USA (160) 5. France (145)
• +8% Italian consumption per capita between 2016 and 2018, with a total consumption of 13,350 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 41% 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.

¹Source: processing of Legambiente data, Regioni imbottigliate 2018 and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, The new plastic economy 2016.
²Source: Bottled Water Reporter 2019, Mineracqua 2018, The Guardian, Legambiente Acque in bottiglia 2018.