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Bottled
Water: The Real Cost of Convenience If there’s one
complaint every coach and assistant has it’s how much time it takes to
clean up the field after practice sessions and games. The biggest
challenge isn’t usually snack wrappers and other miscellaneous refuge
either. Despite many fields being equipped with clearly labeled
recycling containers, one item in particular seems to miss this mark
with regularly, yet it can be found at every youth sports event—the
plastic water bottle. An even worse scenario
exists for those towns and cities where there may not be any recycling
containers available where games are taking place. Needless to say,
these errant plastic bottles are then destined for the garbage can
first, followed by a trip to an already over-crowded landfill. No
one could argue that purchased bottled water isn’t convenient. They
chill in the fridge overnight and then fit snugly into our backpacks or
travel neatly in cup holders in the family car on the way to game
practice the next day. The problem is that we’ll whet our whistles
with about 28 billion polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of water
this year alone, with about 80% of these never getting a second life
from recycling. Instead, approximately 8 billion of these bottles—made
from petroleum, a non-renewable source—will be added to the 3.5 pounds
of other waste material the average American produces each day. That bottle of water
doesn’t look so cool now, does it? If the above statistic alone
doesn’t raise your eyebrow, then consider the following:
By
now you’re probably feeling like a small fish in a big pond in terms
of reducing the environmental footprint your youth sports program may be
contributing to. However, there are several simple things that you can
do to help:
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