How Many Plastic Water Bottles Are Thrown Away Each Day?

by | Last updated on January 24, 2024

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Each day, people in the U.S. throw away

more than 60 million

plastic water bottles, most of which end up in landfills or as litter in America’s streets, parks and waterways. Americans throw away 35 billion empty water bottles a year.

How many plastic water bottles are wasted each year?

More than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day – a total of about

22 billion

last year. Six times as many plastic water bottles were thrown away in the US in 2004 as in 1997.

How many plastic bottles are thrown away every hour?

Americans throw away enough plastic bottles each year to circle the earth four times. Every hour, we throw away

2.5 million

plastic bottles (22 billion plastic bottles per year).

How many plastic water bottles end up in landfills each year?

Around 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills every single day, and Americans alone send

more than 38 billion

water bottles to landfills every year, the equivalent of 912 million gallons of oil. That means that 1,500 plastic bottles are thrown away every second of the day.

How many bottles of water are sold every day?

Americans go through a startling amount of bottled water each day, breaking down to around 1,500 bottles consumed every second. That adds up to 90,000 every hour and nearly

2.2 million

each day. 13. How much bottled water is consumed globally?

How many plastic water bottles are used each year 2020?

Plastic Bottle Facts

481.6 BILLION plastic bottles were used worldwide in a single year. That’s 40 billion per month and

1.3 billion

per year.

How much plastic is thrown away?

You can’t manage what you don’t measure

Of the 8.3 billion metric tons that has been produced,

6.3 billion metric tons

has become plastic waste. Of that, only nine percent has been recycled. The vast majority—79 percent—is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter.

How many plastic water bottles are recycled?

Plastic water bottle consumption

Americans throw away 35 billion empty water bottles a year. Of those, only

12 percent

are recycled. Out of everything we put in our recycle bins at home, approximately 50 percent of it is never recycled.

How much of plastic waste is plastic bottles?

Today, plastic bottles and jars represent about

75 percent

of all plastic containers, by weight, in the United States, according to the Plastics Industry Association.

How much of bottles is recycled each year?

The recycling rate of PET bottles and jars was

29.1 percent

in 2018, and the rate for HDPE natural bottles was 29.3 percent in 2018. The total amount of plastics combusted in MSW in 2018 was 5.6 million tons.

How many plastic bottles get recycled each year?

Out of the estimated 12 billion plastic bottles sold in California each year,

about 70 percent

are recycled, according to state statistics. Still, more than 3 billion bottles are not recycled and usually end up in landfills or as litter.

How many glass bottles are thrown away each year?


More than 28 billion

glass bottles and jars end up in landfills every year — that is the equivalent of filling up two Empire State Buildings every three weeks.

Where do plastic water bottles end up?

Approximately only 9% of all plastic gets recycled, while the remaining 91% ends up in

landfills or leaches into our oceans

. In the US alone, we go through 50 billion plastic bottles per year or 100 million plastic water bottles per day. It can take over 400 years for plastic water bottles to biodegrade.

How much plastic is sold each day?

In the UK

38.5m

plastic bottles are used every day – only just over half make it to recycling, while more than 16m are put into landfill, burnt or leak into the environment and oceans each day.

How many people use plastic water bottles worldwide?

The bottled water market globally is rapidly growing with approximate

600 million households

consuming bottled water in 2018. That’s more than 100 billion gallons (391 Billion litres) of water per year or 1 million bottles per minute. As a consequence our oceans are literary swimming in plastic.

How much single-use plastic is thrown away each year?

Today, we produce about

300 million tonnes

of plastic waste every year. That’s nearly equivalent to the weight of the entire human population.

How many shampoo bottles are thrown away?

Impact of Shower Products

For context, in the United States alone,

550 million empty shampoo bottles are thrown away each year

. This figure does not include conditioner, body wash, or other bathing products -just shampoo bottles.

How much of recycled plastic is actually recycled?

The truth is that only a fraction of plastic is actually recycled. According to the most recent data estimates available from the Environmental Protection Agency, just

8.7 percent

of the plastic that was discarded in the U.S. in 2018 was recycled.

How much plastic is in the ocean 2020?

There is now

5.25 trillion macro and micro pieces

of plastic in our ocean & 46,000 pieces in every square mile of ocean, weighing up to 269,000 tonnes. Every day around 8 million pieces of plastic makes their way into our oceans.

Are plastic bottles 100 recyclable?

The move means that

all plastic bottles of 500ml or less in GB are to be made with 100% recycled plastic

and will continue to be fully recyclable. The rollout commences in September, when the first 100% recycled 500ml bottles will start appearing on shelves.

Do water bottles get recycled?


Few Water Bottles Get Recycled

istockphoto While most plastic bottles are “recyclable,” few are actually recycled. In fact, says Dr. Gleick, about seven of 10 plastic water bottles get incinerated, dumped into landfills – or left as litter. Most plastic water bottles are made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

Why should we ban plastic water bottles?

Plastic water bottles should be banned because

they contribute to pollution, destroy habitat and marine life, are a waste of resources and money, are unnecessary, and contribute to climate change

. However, they should not be banned in places that do not have access to clean water.

David Martineau
Author
David Martineau
David is an interior designer and home improvement expert. With a degree in architecture, David has worked on various renovation projects and has written for several home and garden publications. David's expertise in decorating, renovation, and repair will help you create your dream home.