That Little Difference

There are still people in this world who wonder if that small change that they make will really make a difference. Will me forgoing this one plastic bag really help change the world? Will me using a sports bottle instead of buying a bottle at the gym really make that much of a difference? I've done some quick Googling and Excel-ling and calculating to come up with how you can quantify the difference you make (I bet you saw that coming).

I know a lot of the facts and figures used are very American-centric, but I can't help it. It's the easiest nation on earth to Google. Let's quantify how much you can save the world by.

1. How much of a difference does 1 bottle of water make?

A lot of people throw a lot of figures around as to how much of a difference a bottle of water makes. In truth, it takes 17 million barrels of crude oil to make the 29 billion bottles of water p.a. that America consumes (Source: National Geographic). Let's see how that works out:




Basically, recycling 1 bottle or using 1 bottle less than you already do will save 0.09 litres of oil. Assuming you have a small tank car, you would need to recycle just over 429 bottles to save enough for a full tank. For me, I'd have to save just under 676 bottles per tank.

That statistic can actually be quite depressing and discouraging. It's a bit like, "What, so I saved all these bottles to recycle and I forwent my mineral water for this?" Never fear. I won't leave you hanging. Let's look at it a different way.



According to RecycleSpot.org, the energy it takes to generate 1 plastic bottle can be used to power a 60W lightbulb for up to 6 hours, which means if the average 3-person household consumes 6,000 kWh per year (like the University of California says), then recycling 46 bottles a day or roughly 15 bottles per person will be enough to make up for your electricity consumption. That's a much more achievable target.

2. How much difference does a plastic bag make?


Plastic bags are tiny things - so useful and indispensable. Now that the whole world is against plastic bags, I always catch myself thinking, "What harm can it do if I use a plastic bag this time?" Apparently, quite a bit.



Apparently it takes more oil to make a plastic bag than it does to make a plastic bottle, which is a bit odd if you ask me. Nevertheless, if the statistic of 37 million barrels of oil to make 3 billion plastic bags is true, then saving 7 plastic bags will get you 1km of oil. It takes saving just 20 plastic bags to make up for a full tank of oil for the average-sized car. It's a bit shocking, isn't it, how much difference a plastic bag makes?

So the next time you forgo a plastic bag or a plastic bottle, you can keep count and figure out how many tanks of oil you've saved.