Remember your reusable water bottle

Small acts are all it takes to make a big impact

You’ll save money, natural resources and the planet if you remember to take your reusable water bottle when you go out. Even better to refill it rather than buying water in a single-use plastic bottle.

It’s a small act with a big impact on Victoria’s sustainable future.

Why it matters

The cost to the environment

Australians buy billions of plastic bottles every year. Sadly, 53% of plastic bottles end up in landfill and 12% end up in our environment where they contribute to the 130,000 tonnes of plastic leaked into Australia’s marine environment each year (WWF, Plastic Revolution to Reality 2020).

Like other single-use plastic items (plastic bags and straws), plastic water bottles are only used briefly but remain in the environment for hundreds of years causing considerable damage to wildlife, the environment and our health.

Producing and transporting plastic water bottles also uses a lot of energy and resources. It takes 3 litres of water and 1 litre of oil to produce just 1 litre of bottled water (Clean Up Australia 2022).

The cost to you

Buying bottled water is more expensive than tap water. In fact, bottled water is on average 2000 times more expensive than the high-quality drinking water we enjoy in Victoria. Here’s another way to look at – it'd take you 8 years of refilling your plastic bottle with tap water to make back the initial cost of buying one bottle of water.