Americans purchase close to 30 billion bottles of water a year. Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. According to Food and Water Watch, the manufacturing of that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce, and pumps 3 tons of carbon dioxide into the air.

While the plastic used to bottle beverages is of very high quality and in demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are just thrown away.

There's a simple alternative to bottled water: Use a stainless steel thermos. Don't like the way your local tap water tastes? Inexpensive carbon filters will turn most tap water sparking fresh at a fraction of bottled water's cost, which costs more per gallon than gasoline.