In 1967, that smug businessman from the film “The Graduate” took Dustin Hoffman’s character aside and declared “I just want to say one word to you, just one word: ‘plastics.’” Ever since that iconic moment, plastic has signified society’s wasteful tendencies and has come to represent our “throwaway culture”.

The prepackaged bottle of water is the epitome of waste.

Plastic bottles are manufactured from non-renewable petroleum and natural gas. Annually, Americans dispose of 29 billion water bottles, requiring 1.5-million barrels of crude oil (enough oil to keep 100,000 cars running for one year), resulting in the release of 2.5-million tons of carbon dioxide. In addition, scientists have found that over time, plastic bottles can leach chemicals linked to birth defects, miscarriage and prostate cancer into the water.

This article appears in Jul 29 – Aug 4, 2009.