Reduce plastic bottles in our landfills

Sure, the whole bottled water craze has taken most of America by storm. But even though most of these Americans feel they are doing themselves good by buying crates of bottled water, in reality they are adding to their own carbon footprint and our landfills.

I cringe every time I see someone at one of those bulk food stores coming out with a crate of bottled water. I just want to scream. First off, most of that so called "filtered" water, isn't even filtered. Secondly, most if not all of those bottles in that crate won't go into the recycling bin. Not all Americans recycle. They may say they do, and many states have recycling laws, but in reality, our landfills are teaming with plastic bottles from sodas, fruit drinks, and water.

There are simple ways to reduce your use of plastic bottles.

The best way - REUSE!! Of course you won't want to reuse a typical disposable bottle. They are not dishwasher safe and bacteria and germs can gather rather fast on those bottles. Not the most sanitary container to be reusing.

If you are one of the many Americans watching this season of "The Biggest Loser" on NBC, you have most likely heard of the "Refill Not Landfill" campaign in partnership with Brita. This campaign encourages the use of reusable and washable sports water bottles as well as Brita filters. Not only are you reducing those little 20oz plastic bottles in landfills you are actually drinking filtered water, which you know is filtered unlike the water you buy in the store.

Here's my challenge for the month - Don't buy any drinks from your office vending machine and stop yourself before you buy bottled water at the store. If you already own a Brita filter, use it and just refill a glass or a sports bottle. Track how much money you would have spent on vending machine drinks and bottled water. You may be surprised how much you save.

Find out more about bottled water in our landfills at "Refill Not Landfill"