The Wall Street Journal has become my periodical of choice for many reasons. This editorial is just one more reason. I have heard that beverage containers are the USA’s biggest landfill contributor, but I could never find the source to cite it.

It seems that we’re addicted to water bottles. I thought the comparison to cigarettes was especially clever; we use the bottles as status symbols, and as something to do with our hands. I’ll admit that I buy the bottles, but they are washed and reused for weeks before being recycled. Not trashed- recycled.

In the comments to the article, it’s clear that some people didn’t get the point; they continued to talk about their icky tap water. Indiana tap water, so rich with limestone that it seems little rocks might fall out of the faucet, isn’t the tastiest, but it is safe and we are fortunate to live in a country where access to safe drinking water is considered a right, not a privilege. Contrast the picture above with the picture to the left– just a few of the billion people who don’t have clean drinking water.

It seems a little “let them eat cake” to waltz around and trash container that could be reused, recycled, or just plain not bought at all. It’s time to wake up and behave like we might actually care about those billion people.