Bottled Water Consumption in the US Increased for 2011
In 2011, total U.S. bottled water consumption increased to 9.1 billion gallons, up from 8.75 billion gallons in 2010 while consumption of other major beverages was down. Per-capita consumption is up 3.2 percent in 2011, with every person in America now drinking an average of 29.2 gallons of bottled water last year.
According to the International Bottled Water Association:
The bottled water industry is also utilizing a variety of measures to reduce our environmental footprint. All bottled water containers are 100 percent recyclable. Although bottled water makes up only 0.03 percent of the U.S. waste stream, according to the EPA, the bottled water industry works hard on a number of fronts with recycling advocates, communities, and our beverage and food partners to increase recycling rates. In fact, between 2000 and 2008, bottled water companies reduced the weight of PET resin plastic single-serve bottles by 32 percent. That is the equivalent of removing one out of three bottled water containers from the waste stream.
