Let me start you all off with an extremely terrifying statistic: worldwide 100 million plastic water bottles are used every single day. When you combine this with another scary fact that only 1 in 5 water bottles are actually recycled, we are adding 800,000 plastic water bottles to landfills and our environment each day. This equates to at least 292 million water bottles each year, although most estimates are around 500 million. These are the unfathomable facts that have to lead me to CONSTANTLY carry a reusable water bottle with me.

When I say constantly, I truly mean constantly. If I don’t have the one in this picture, I have one of my other two HydroFlasks. You might be thinking to yourself “Wow, I want to reduce my plastic waste, but it’s so hard to remember my water bottle.” Let me tell you, once you start the habit, you will never go back!

The first thing I love about my reusable water bottles is that I invested in ones that keep my water cold for hours. There is honestly nothing more refreshing than taking a sip of water from my Swell bottle or my HydroFlask. All my friends agree that I have the best water in town, no need to brag. It’s all because the water is the perfect temperature due to the insulation technology.

Another great thing about always having my water bottle with me is that it allows me to stay hydrated. Before I owned these water bottles I was not drinking as much water as I should have been each day. Once I got my HydroFlask, this all changed because I wanted to drink the cold, chilling water all the time. There are so many benefits to drinking more water; water works to clear up skin blemishes, increases metabolism, and stimulates every internal system within the body. Not getting enough water simply causes your body not to function properly.

I would say it’s been about five years since I purchased my first HydroFlask, and ever since then I have been drinking adequate amounts of water and learned to keep a reusable water bottle with me at all times. In fact, I basically only drink water now because of the fact that I know it is the best fuel for my body and because it is constantly with me. I’m addicted to water and my reusable water bottles, as we all should be. I have noticed an increase in my energy since switching to drinking mostly water, both physically and mentally.

If all these benefits of water consumption won’t get you to remember your reusable water bottle. A helpful way to ensure that you don’t forget your water bottle is to think of it like your phone or your wallet: it is something that should always be with you. I literally never leave my house without those three essentials. If you make it a habit, soon it will become second nature to fill your water bottle up and then grab your wallet and phone before you leave the house. You will start to miss your water bottle when you accidentally forget it at home.

The practice of carrying a reusable water bottle allows you to nourish your body and reduce the amount of waste that ends up in the environment. Whenever I go to a restaurant I am able to fill up my water bottle at the soda machine for free or poor the rest of the water from my glass in my water bottle before I leave. In all reality, we should not be paying for water, but bottled water companies have tricked us into paying for trash-encased water. Sorry to put things so bluntly, but that is how I view the bottled water industry.

Investing in a long-lasting product rather than buying single-use plastics not only reduced your economic footprint. It allows you to save money by purchasing a quality reusable bottle you will love rather than constantly buying regular water, bottled in the trash, and marketed to convince you it tastes purer. Don’t fall prey to this false advertising; do better for yourself and the planet and invest in a reusable bottle!

Of course, there are going to be times where you forget your reusable bottle; in these cases, it is important to put your purchasing power towards the best possible brands. When it comes to plastic water bottles the brand to buy is Evian. Evian uses 100% renewable energy at all of their bottling factories and 100% recycled materials for their bottles by 2025. The brand also went zero net carbon emissions in all North American factories in 2017. Evian’s commitment to the environment should entice conscious consumers to spend their money in a way that matters.

This is the perfect example of how consumers can dictate the world in which we live by choosing to purchase products from sustainable brands. When purchasing habits evolve, industries have no choice but to follow in the consumers’ footsteps and adapt their business model to suit their target market. So pay attention to the next plastic water bottle you purchase and truly contemplate the impact you can have by buying a reusable water bottler.