Custom «PET Bottles» Essay Paper

Introduction

The use of PET bottles in the United States of America has been on the increase since the last century. Pet bottles have increased environmental pollution by a considerable percentage. Most companies use pet bottles, to package drinking water and other ready to drink products. The increase it the use of the pet bottles has happened at an alarming rate. This paper looks at the use of pet bottles, in the United States of America. It intends to bring out the dangers of using pet bottles and help the reader grasp the importance of doing away with this product or look for other means of handling to.

Discussion

Towards the end of the end of the 1990s the use of pet bottles increased considerably, this happened because many soft drink manufacturing companies had established and produced a lot of ready to drink products. These companies opted for pet bottles because of certain reasons. Pet bottles offered a range of advantages to these companies. Pet bottles seemed semi-rigid to rigid depending on their thickness and the lightweight. The pet bottles offered a fair gas and moisture barrier, alcohol and solvent barriers. They make use off polyvinyl alcohol, to reduce permeability. The companies used pet bottles because they offer a cheap way of manufacturing. Pet bottles compared to other forms of packaging, offer a recyclable chance (Hawker 30).

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The use of pet bottles has become a significant problem, to the world and more so, to the united states of America. In the United States of America, for instance, the use of pet bottles grew by over five hundred percent. Today, over one and half million tons of plastic, get used, to bottle water and other soft drinks, in one year.  The rate of use of the pet bottles has gone remarkably high as compared to pet bottle recycling (Lee 179).

This happens because pet recycling has become inefficient and messy. The recycling of pet bottles has not kept the same pace, as their production. The rate at which they enter the market considerably overturns the rate at which they get recycled. Once people use pet bottles, they throw them away. The use of pet bottles has posed serious environmental problems in the United States of America.

The problem associated, with the use of pet bottles affect each person alike. It affects children, the youth, adults, men and female member of the society. Particularly, it affects the entire citizenry, in all parts of the United States of America. This happens because the use of pet bottles pollutes the entire environment, where everyone lives. The problem of the use of pet bottles impact the environment directly, and from this people who interact with their environment get affected (Williams 84).

For instance, in 2006, two billion half-liter bottles got in to the United States of America. They created thousands of tons of global warming pollution and other air position. In New York alone, the transportation of bottled water from Western Europe estimated that three thousand and eight hundred tons of global warming pollution went in to the atmosphere. In California, eighteen million tons of bottled water, from Fiji caused an estimated two thousand and five hundred tons of global warming pollution (xiaohe).

Bottled water poses a health risk to human beings. Studies showed that chemicals known as phthalate known, to disrupt the production and functions of progesterone and other hormones in the body leaches into bottled water, sometime.  One study showed that water stored for ten weeks, in bottles contained phthalates. This suggested that the chemical could originate from the bottle caps or from the bottle liners. This proves harmful, to the health of individuals, when used for a long period. It has a long-term heath effect.

Another problem comes from the fact that pet bottles do not biodegrade. They form a permanent part of landfills. Each year, people throw away twenty six billion of bottles. Out of these twenty-six bison, only fifteen percent get recycled. This results to clogging of landfills cause by lack of recycling of pet bottles (Use-and-Toss Plastic Bottle Facts).

The pet bottles use many fossil fuels that pollute the environment. People, in the United States of America, buy bottled water more than other people do, in the other parts of the world. Today bottled water accounts for twenty nine billion pet bottles released, to the environment. In order to come up with this amount of pet bottles, manufactures use seventeen million barrels of crude oil. This costs the country a lot, in terms of the fuel that goes in to the production of bottled water. 

The problem associated with the use of pet bottles involve the fact that out of six bottles used, only one of them gets to the recycle process. The others end up as trash in the land, rivers, lakes and oceans. The manufacturing of pet bottles requires a combination of gas and petroleum. Therefore, the production of pet bottles causes an upsurge of fuel process because of high demand (Parto and Et.al 255).

Transportation costs related to pet bottles proves remarkably high. For instance, when transporting bottled water, it takes lots of fuel, to move millions of tons of drinking water each day. When recycling these bottles, the process requires more fuel. Therefore, the whole issue of producing, transporting, using and recycling pet bottles proves problematic and expensive. To add on to that, when plastics break down, they do not biodegrade, instead; they photo grade, the materials from the pet bottles break down, to smaller fragments, which absorb toxins. This contaminates soil, waterways and animals.

Therefore, the problems that come with the production and use of the pet bottles seem more than the advantages people get from using the bottles. Environmental pollution, recycling problems and social resource waste created by the production, use and recycling of pet bottles should not proceed. The pollution caused by the use of pet bottles can reduce by applying certain measures and coming up with certain solutions. Currently, there exists certain ways that can help reduce the problems that come with the use of pet bottles.

First, companies that manufacture pet bottles can help reduce the impact caused by pet bottles by manufacturing pet bottles that have a less thickness than the current ones. Reducing the thickness of these bottles makes it easy for recycling. The recycling companies need not use a lot of fuel, when recycling these bottles. Therefore, this helps to reduce the amount of fuel used when producing and when recycling pet bottles. Through this, fuel prices could come down because of a lesser demand for it (Charter and Tischner 413).

Secondly, a cultural shift, in the use of pet bottles should happen. People should shift away from use and toss mentality. To do this, manufactures should produce high quality reusable free bottles. For example, in Singapore, new technologies have helped them, to manufacture and use organic chemical compounds known as ionic liquids to pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. After they pull this gas, they use it to manufacture non-toxic, BPA bottles. These bottles weigh forty percent carbon dioxide.  These bottles provide a healthy use for the consumers, while at the same time; eliminate harmful emissions from the atmosphere.  Treating BPA bottles with ultraviolet light and heat disposes the pollutant element. Therefore, it makes use of BPA bottles safe and reliable after the lighting and heating process the BPA bottles get exposure fungi that have already faced exposure to environmental clean up and burie. In a period of one year, the fungus eats up the BPA bottles completely. This treatment has not extended to many parts of the world. However, it seems a reliable way of putting an end to the use of pet bottles.  Therefore, companies can produce BPA bottles that seem better than pet bottles. After consumption of the contents, in the bottle, it can now enter the treatment exercise (dclark).

The concept of making plastic bottles environmentally friendly offers another solution to this problem. For example, the introduction of ENSO bottles proved advantageous. ENSO bottles came into existence through Resilux Company. These bottles have a biodegradable advantage. They bio-degrade in anaerobic environments, which break down through microbial activity in to biogases and inert humus. These live do not live behind any harmful material. These bottles have a recyclable advantage.  

Among the solutions offered, the BPA and ENSO bottles seem viable. They offer several ways of reducing the environmental pollution caused by pet bottles. Both of them can biodegrade, and people can recycle them.

Each and everyone have the responsibility of helping, to reduce environmental pollution caused by pet bottles. The public has the responsibility of helping by ensuring that they do not through those bottles, anyhow. They have the responsibility to help the responsibility of throwing those bottles inside recycle bins. This way, the recycling companies, can easily access the bottles for recycling. The public has the responsibility of teaching those who do not know the disadvantage of throwing pet bottles anywhere.  They can help keep the environment clean (Hill, 306).

The government should also come up with regulations and guidelines for the manufacture, use and disposal of pet bottles. These regulations can help reduce the pollution that comes from pet bottles. The regulations and guidelines should regulate the production of pet bottles. It should recommend the best weight and thickness of pet bottles that can help reduce environmental pollution. The government can also influence manufacturers to stop the production of pet bottles, and instead use BPA or ENSO bottles, which prove environmentally friendly.

The manufacturing companies that produce pet bottles provide bottled water and other soft drinks can help reduce the environmental pollution caused by pet bottles. The manufacturing companies can use BPA and ENSO bottles that have environmental friendly qualities. Through this, they can come up with bottles easy to recycle and pollute the environment minimally (Narang 50).

Packaging companies for soft drinks and drinking water should package their water in environmentally friendly bottles, such as BPA bottles. It can also help to sensitize the public of the dangers of using pet bottles and throwing them carelessly. The companies can do this by printing this information on the bottles that they use to package their drinks.

Environmental experts can also help to alleviate this problem. They can contribute by offering sensitization seminars and meeting, to the public. These seminars and meetings should mean to educate and inform the public about the dangers caused by pet bottle usage. They should offer highly active role towards that.

Conclusion

The use of pet bottles as a packaging equipment for soft drinks and water has created a lot of trouble. The use of pet bottles results to environmental pollution, health risk, to the public and remarkably expensive. The pollution effect goes to the atmosphere, to the land and to the water bodies. There exists, solutions that can help to reduce the problems caused by pet bottles to the environment and to the public. Each person has the responsibility of helping alleviate the problems caused by pet bottle usage.