Just the other day I was walking to the gym and some lady ahead of me capped her water bottle, which was not empty, and tossed it into the trash can. That struck me as odd because I always empty my water bottles before I throw them out.
Pushing aside the environmental impact of disposable water bottles, I wondered if not emptying water (or soda, etc) bottles prior to putting them into a plastic garbage bag (which will contain the water for many years) would have a significant negative effect on the environment.
I mean, there’s only so much water in the world, so it seems that if everyone throws away liquids into containers that don’t allow it to escape and make its way back into the water supply, then eventually we’ll run out of water.
So do you empty out all your liquids before tossing the container?
I don’t buy bottled water ever and soda only rarely - all other liquids are typically used up before the container is thrown out. All the containers are recycled here anyway, so they have to be emptied.
I don’t think a bottle of water is all that likely to make it intact to its final resting place in a landfill anyway - they pack it all down with tractors with enormous studded wheels.
Like Mangetout, I’d always assumed that most plastic bottles wouldn’t make it through the compression process whole, although I try to recycle mine on the rare occasions I buy such things.
Related, although a bit off-topic: A friend once pointed out that with glass beverage bottles like Snapple, if you cap the bottle before disposing, in case of a fire, the remaining liquid will evaporate and rapidly expand. This can make the bottle explode, scattering glass shards everywhere. Since then, I try not to cap those bottles, although it’s somehow such ingrained habit that it’s tough not to.
If i had to throw out a drink in plastic or glass bottle unfinished, and there was no place to pour out the remains of course it would be capped in the garbage. Liquefied garbage in a bag is what fouls the can!
Plus not all bags/cans are intact, and pouring a liquid loose into the can may cause it to leak out. At work we have some small garbage bins mounted at the elevators, and I frequently see people toss in coffee cups that still have coffee in them. When they tip over inside the bin, often the small bin liners inside may have small holes poked in them by other garbage, and then we get a puddle of coffee under the bin, just ready to trip someone stepping off the elevator. It’s best when possible to toss a container that’s either firmly sealed, or emptied out.
In an ideal world, this person would drink the water then put the empty bottle into a recycle bin.
In the real world, welll…
Odds are pretty good that the bottle will be squashed and broken in the garbage truck before said truck arrives at the transfer station. Whether it’s the older style ‘toss the bags into the back of the truck’ or the newer type with a robot arm that grabs a bin and dumps it into the top of the truck, either type features a strong compactor mechanism.
Handling at the transfer station is rather rough as well - not much get through all of this undamaged, so there’s not much chance that those few ounces of water left in the bottle will be trapped forever in a landfill.
In an ideal world, this person would drink the water from the tap, which has been treated for potability at some expense, in a container that was reusable, hopefully for their lifetime.
Huh, I honestly thought the best case for empty bottles in the recycling bin was mess, or rather, avoiding mess. People aren’t always that careful with putting the caps on. Then you get that icky thing where the person changing out the bag of recyclables has to deal with liquid dripping out. Not so bad with water, of course, but sticky soda or tea … yuck.
But a few ounces x thousands of people could really add up. But I guess I never thought about the garbage being squished up prior to being sent to the landfill. I suppose that the liquid in all those garbage bags eventually leeches out and ends up back in the water supply.
Here in Ohio, recycling isn’t mandatory so a lot of these things up in the trash instead of the recycling bin. And maybe it’s my OCD talking but I could never just seal up and trash perfectly good water. If I can’t find a thirsty plant, I pour it down the drain.
Even in the ideal world, the proportion of the water supply consumed by bottled water is so trivially insignificant that this is not even worth worrying about.
I empty water bottles/soda bottles/to-go cups etc. before disposal as a courtesy to whoever has to change the trash, whether that person is me or the janitor or the clerk at the convenience store.
Liquid makes the trash heavier, and if it leaks out of the bottle, it creates mushy, stinky trash and could leak out of the trash bag, creating a disgusting mess.
I never thought about it as anything more than a courtesy though.
Had this woman been decent enough to recycle the bottle, they (recyclers) prefer that the bottles not be capped, or at least not capped tightly. Aids in the imminent crushing for transport, ya know.
And yes, I’d pour the water out prior. Why add weight to trash?
I empty water bottles , if for no other reason, to lighten the load. At some point someone or something has to pick the garbage up, why make them/it strain when the bottle can so easily be dumped.
I thought this was one of the things that landfill disposal was very much at pains to prevent. I believe they’re supposed to be lined and capped now - specifically to prevent leaching.
I guess I don’t get it, because water will, if nothing else, evaporate. It’s not gonna be hermetically sealed in a compressed garbage cube. So it’ll leak out slowly, get soaked up by the ground or evaporate to the sky, and rain back.
Environmentally, best thing is tap water from a re-usable bottle (like Nalgene). [Ya’ll know that tap water is in general, better monitored than bottled water, as far as health concerns goes?]
Landfills are designed NOT to have water leak out the bottom. Some may evaporate out the top. Also, garbage trucks and transfer stations shouldn’t be leaking water, either. But the garbage bag might leak, and so water could add to a mess in the immediate area of the can.
But at any rate, a little left-over water in the bottom of a bottle is not enough to worry about as far as global water supplies go; if it’s trapped in a landfill forever, no big deal. (how much is there compared to a toilet flush?)
The biggest environmental effect is that the garbage trucks might burn a little more fuel carrying around the water. Unless you’re regularly dumping gallons, not a huge effect.
To cause the glass vessel to fracture from overpressure, you must have a very good seal at the cap, and sufficient liquid inside, so when when brought to the boiling state, will cause overpressure rupture of the glass container.
The above scenario isn’t going to happen in a trash can fire, or even a fire within a trash truck/recycling vehicle.