Flint Water Bottle Crisis

Flint Water Bottle Crisis

In the midst of one environmental crisis another one emerges.

Without access to safe drinking water, Flint residents have been forced to get water from their one alternative—the plastic bottle. Now they are faced with the challenge of disposing millions of empty water bottles.

One Flint family uses 151, 16. 9 oz. water bottles per day.[1]

The state has already distributed more than 176,000 cases of bottled water, but the total number of used up bottles will keep growing.[2] Even celebrities are involved in donating bottled water. In January Puff Daddy and Mark Wahlberg donated one million bottles[3]. Until Flint residents have access to safe drinking water, they will continue to rely on these donations.

The fear is that most of these water bottles will end up in a landfill instead of being recycled. While Flint does have a curbside recycling program, very few people use it or even know about it. The recycling program is new, running for just two years, with only 13-16% participation.[4] Current recycling bins are overflowing, but there are still not enough bins distributed to residents in order to capture all of the empty plastic bottles.

Republic Services, the company handling Flint’s waste and recycling, has the resources to recycle all of these bottles. The problem is educating Flint residents about their recycling program. In his interview with Michigan Radio, Steve Montle, a consultant with Resource Recycling Systems, explains that it will take money to establish a successful public education program to get residents recycling.[5]

At the Flint Muslim Food Pantry, every case of water comes

with a note asking residents to recycle their used water bottles.

Despite the risk that this massive influx of plastic may be directed towards the landfill, Montle emphasizes an upside to these events. As more bottles are recycled, the more financially successful Flint’s recycling program will become.[6] However, it will take more people recycling in Flint to see this benefit.

Republic Services, public schools, and local food banks are developing recycling education programs to promote higher recycling participation rates. 

Listen to Michigan Radio’s full Environmental Report here.

References

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[1] Zdanowicz, C. (2016, March 7). Flint family uses 151 bottles of water per day. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/05/us/flint-family-number-daily-bottles-of-water/

[2] Adams, D. (2016, January 28). Millions of plastic bottles flood Flint amid water crisis. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/01/millions_of_plastic_bottles_fl.html

[3] Chuck, E. (2016, January 28). Flint's Next Issue: What to Do With Empty Water Bottles? Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/flint-water-crisis/flint-s-next-issue-what-do-empty-water-bottles-n505781

http://www.mlive.com/news/flint/index.ssf/2016/01/millions_of_plastic_bottles_fl.html

[4] [5] [6] Williams, R. (2016, January 28). Flint does have a recycling program, but not a lot of people use it. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from http://michiganradio.org/post/flint-does-have-recycling-program-not-lot-people-use-it#stream/0