# Plastic Bottles and Recycling **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 29, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929 "2003-04-29T15:42:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kitarak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/898d66/32.png) [@kitarak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitarak)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/1 "2003-04-29T15:42:23Z")
To start, let me say that I drink bottled water. There are various reasons for it, which I won’t get into, and I’d really like to Not argue the relative merits of this. Problem: I drink about 2 litres of water a day. This is almost exactly one large bottle of water. This means that I end up with rather a lot of bottles. Further problem: Our local authority won’t recycle plastic bottles. So, I could throw them away, but that would be incredibly wasteful. The question then becomes what to do with them all? There doesn’t seem to be any creative way to recycling, and while I can use some of them for storage there are rather more than I need. Any creative suggestions? Also if you want to discuss related problems with other random objects you’re more than welcome to use this thread for it as well. Kit ---
**Author:** ![1010011010](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/ea666f/32.png) [@1010011010](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1010011010)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/2 "2003-04-29T16:16:29Z")
REDUCE: Quit buying a new bottle each time. REUSE: Refill the bottle, rather than buying a new one each time. RECYCLE: Not really worth it with most types of plastics (as your local authority has figured out). Get a water filtering pitcher or simply buy your purified water a gallon or two at a time (i.e. buy it in 2 gallon containers, not buy 16 one liter bottles) then keep refilling one (1) bottle until it need to be replaced. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/3 "2003-04-29T16:56:26Z")
I’ve been using the same 6 plastic bottles for as long as I can remember. I refill them from a purified tap ([like this](http://www.waterfiltersaustralia.com.au/images/Twin%20Undersink%20Water%20Filter.gif)) that I installed. A fairly simply install if you are reasonable handy with basic tools. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/4 "2003-04-29T17:54:25Z")
In Connecticut, all plastic drink bottles have a 5 cent deposit, to ensure that you turn them back in to be recycled. All bottles, that is, except for water bottles. Blows my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/5 "2003-04-29T21:57:11Z")
I see your location is Cambridge, which I assume to be Cambridge, Mass.? If so, Malden Mills, the folks behind Polartec fleece, uses [recycled drink bottles](http://www.polartec.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/378) to manufacture their fabric. I sorta doubt that they’ll have a drop-off location for your bottles, but it probably wouldn’t hurt to [contact](http://www.polartec.com/mm/contact.php) them to see if they can help you find ways to recycle. That said, I concur with the previous posts that you should reuse your bottles, either by refilling from a larger source, or by filtering your own water. It’ll save you money in the long-term, too. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/6 "2003-04-29T22:04:27Z")
Oh, yeah, [Patagonia](http://www.patagonia.com/store/products/details/pcr.shtml) also uses recycled bottles in their fleece. I understand they have a store in the Boston area; you might want to talk to them, too. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/7 "2003-04-29T22:15:05Z")
Cambridge, MA (I live 1-town over) recycles plastics (#1-#7), so I’m guessing **kitarak** is in the _original_ Cambridge. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/8 "2003-04-29T22:22:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kitarak \* > I drink about 2 **litres** of water a day. Duh…the spelling should’ve clued me in. Pay attention the next time, dagnabbit! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2003, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/plastic-bottles-and-recycling/171929/9 "2003-04-29T22:48:59Z")
that and s/he called the local government the “local authority” which sounds so very English. 😃