For those of you who drink bottled water, what do you do with the empty plastic bottles?

I use the same one over and over and fill it from the tap. I buy orange juice in plastic bottles which I recycle.

I live in New York State which implemented a bottle and can law in the 1980’s. When we buy bottled water or soda the items are coded with a $0.05 or 5 Cent deposit mark and that is added to the purchase price.

Over the past 30 years inflation has reduced the value of $0,05 so many people do not bother and instead either put the cans and bottle out with their recycling or drop them off at the numerous charity collection boxes located in front of many gas stations. They support Boy Scouts, Sports Teams, etc.

I don’t usually buy soda or water but if I do get a water bottle I will refill it.

I recycle.

There are a lot in the back of my car :p
Other than that I recycle them.

I try to save them and give them to my neighbor who recycles them. The last time I stopped by his house, there was a mountain of bottles in his yard covered by plastic. His wife says he is a hoarder LOL. If I don’t give them to him, I bag them up and put them next to my garbage at work, in the hopes that the cleaning people will take them. I’ve also occasionally given them bagged up to people who collect bottles on the street.

I feel the 5 cent bottle deposit should be raised to 25 cents. Then perhaps people won’t throw them in the garbage, as they often do now. I read an article in the NY Times that said the bottle deposit has been the same since the mid 70’s and the beverage industry is a big lobbyist which is pressuring politicians to keep it at 5 cents. That’s one reason why I hate politics – it’s all about the Benjamins.

We get a 1NOK deposit back for most bottles and aluminium cans. (I think it’s about 10cent US) Other types of plastic packaging gets recycled. We have separate bins for our garbage: one for food and organic waste, one for plastic and paper, one for ‘other’. We also have collection points for metal and glass in the parking lots of grocery stores.
I like the machines at the grocery stores for the bottles and can deposit. You can take the little print-out to the counter and get cash, or you can just use it against your grocery store purchases, like a coupon.

I only drink tap water unless on a plane or at a location where tap water is undrinkable. In the latter cases, I hope that they’re recycled.

The hotel company that I used to work for put a bottle of water in the room of each frequent guest. In order to offset the amount of plastic disposed, the hotels purchased shower curtains made out of recycled plastic.

The preferred guests received a benefit, the hotels benefited from maintaining customer loyalty, it generated business for the companies that manufactured the water and curtains, and it kept the plastic from ending up in a landfill. It was a win-win situation.

I refill the empty bottle for a week.

I’ve read that eventually some of the chemicals in the plastic will leach into the water, so I recycle them after that.

I do the same as @Brian1946. I reuse it. I never buy water, I’m usually just able to get one from some place or another.

We have bottled water delivered in the 5-gallon bottles for our water dispenser. I go through one a week and it’s much cheaper than individual bottles. Also, no waste as I just refill the same metal bottle over and over. The delivery company picks up the empty jugs once a month. I assume the reuse them.

I also have a reusable metal cup I make my ice coffee in.

I recycle any plastic bottles, but for most of the still water I drink I use a metal water bottle.

Right in to the trash can. There’s not even a separation between organic/inorganic, or even dry/wet trash can. There is no regulation for this. Honestly, I don’t really care that much about it and I bet most people around me are the same. You’ll most likely already cease to exist by the time the earth is buried in unrecyclable plastic-based pollutant. I know this is not wise but still… people will think that ignorance is bliss when they can afford to do so.

I have a friend who lives near the Louisiana bayou. He calls cans and bottles – “landfill”.

I don’t buy bottled water regularly (drink tap water, people); maybe I end up with 3–4 bottles per year. I keep 1 or 2 to freeze wild blueberries in, and any others are returned for deposit.

If I can’t be bothered to return them myself, I bag them with anything else that fetches deposit money, and put them out alongside my recycling; homeless people collect items for deposit on recycling days, so I may as well make it easier for them.

I guess I’m inconvenienced with my lack of homeless people.

I recycle as much as possible.

Pretending they don’t exist doesn’t do them any favours, @cazzie.

They go in the recycling after a few uses – other than one mini one that I’ve been refilling/drying/reusing intermittently for at least a year. I use it once or twice a month – take it in my knapsack to movies, etc. Not as heavy as bigger ones but can be refilled while I’m out.

@dappled_leaves I think you should look into rates of homelessness in different countries.

It’s not too safe to use the same ones over and over again, but I will do it for a couple of times. Then I try to recycle.

We almost never drank bottled water previously, but now my husband does at work. I’d say close to 100% of those bottles go in the trash. If he winds up finishing a bottle at home, then that would go into recycle. At home probably 90% of our plastic bottles (that’s all plastic bottles, not just water) are recycled.

@cazzie Yes, I’m sure that will help me decide what to do with an empty water bottle. o_O

I throw them away.

@dappled_leaves Yes, America has a homeless population problem. Where I live, we don’t. You do see the Romanian beggars and such digging through the public garbage bins in the city, but the private ones are locked.

@cazzie This question is not at all about homelessness rates, so this is a significant derail you’re on (but you seem to be enjoying it, so w/e). I’ll just point out that Norway’s homelessness rate is 0.14%, while America’s is 0.18%. That is not a significant difference. Though I’m not sure why I’m bothering, because I’m not American.

Good question. Our refrigerator is full of recycled plastic bottles. It’s actually very practical because I can just let it freeze and bring to work the following day.
I’m planning to use them for art. Can anyone suggest an idea?

I didn’t bring up homeless folks. Read the thread. And I don’t live in an area with homeless people. Quoting stats doesn’t change that.

I recycle mine. I live in an apartment building, and we have a big dumpster at the end of the court for recyclables.

Has anyone here tried reusing the plastic bottles for other purposes?

Re-use, repurpose or recycle.

i use the a couple of old bottle to store ware for watering my plants. I fill the from the tap and let them sit near the plants in the sunlight to increase the evaporation rate of chlorine in the water.
After I water the plants I refill the bottles and let them sit until the next time the plants need watering.

Also this is a fun experiment to show kids. Toilet bowl cleaner and aluminum foil .

Wow. That’s a worthwhile experiment to perform. Kids will surely love it.
I would like to try to make decorations out of plastic bottles. I’ve seen others have it in their homes. They have only used a cutter in making it.

I gave this a go and it looked sort of cool, but rather useless. http://www.instructables.com/id/make-an-art-bowl-from-pet-bottle/

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/d4/ac/78/d4ac7878107c81642f28a531d67c634f.jpg

@MissDDG “Works” Toilet bowl cleaner works well. But be warned, it is corrosive and will damage your lawn when it sprays out.

If it does that to lawn, imagine what happens if it sprays all over a kid. Caution people. Respect the chemistry.

Agreed. You want everyone back at least 10 m. Watch a few youtube videos beforehand to get the idea. It is also a good idea to have a BB gun handy so you can initiate it if the mix is not enough to bust the bottle. You don’t want to walk up to it.

Yesterday I used a bottle to collect clean sump pump water that I will use to water my Venus flytrap.

Thanks for this. Is it better to use heat gun or an open flame for this?

No flame or external heat is necessary. The reaction takes place on its own.
You drop in the foil, quickly pour in the liquid, screw on the top, shake it, and run!

Exothermic reaction. My hobby is exothermic reactions and long chain fatty acids.

Oh, I see. I thought I still need to use a soldering gun for that. I will try this later.
That’s really interesting. I bet you can come up with different experiments through exothermic reactions

@cazzie Hubby says I’m an exothermic experience. (He says my feet are like ice).

@snowberry if you are cold that would be endothermic.

@cazzie If her feet don’t feel cold to her (endo), but they do feel cold to her hubby, then IMHO it fits the exo model.

Nope.

I tried the experiment and I failed. LOL.
I think I got it wrong somewhere in between.
I find it hard to bust the bottles.