With oil prices surging to almost $120 a barrel on Friday April 25th, 2008 the sky is certainly looking like the limit. There are analysts and speculators that are now saying they don’t feel that $200 a barrel oil is unrealistic at this point. It’s definitely easy to question who is making money here, who is laughing all the way to the bank as the price rises and who might be responsible for the meteoric price rise in the barrel of oil. An unfortunate truth to who is helping the price levels stay high could be looking back at you in the mirror.
Even the U.S. Congress is scrutinizing oil company profits and refinery production in light of the supply and demand issues that seem apparent in the oil industry. Americans often want to point their fingers at the same culprits. As much as the oil companies, a growing global economy and wars are to blame for the oil price increases but consumer consumption of plastic products is also a culprit in keeping oil prices high and environment issues shaky.
The most reliable statistics from the Pacific Institute put America’s love affair with water bottles at 31.2 billion liters of water in 2006. 
Due to negative press on the possible health effects of the use, most people are aware water bottles are sold in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles. In order to manufacture these bottles over 900,000 tons of plastic is needed. The mainstream manufacturing process that produces PET bottles requires a combination of natural gas and petroleum. The petroleum requirement is where the statistics show that America’s obsession could be hurting their wallets at the gas pump.
Bottom line, the production of 31.2 billion liters of water for the U.S. bottled water market took roughly 17.6 million barrels of oil. The calculation is explained in more detail at the Pacific Institute’s information page under the energy requirements for plastic bottles. The simple break down is 3.4 megajoules of energy to produce a water bottle, cap and packaging with a barrel of oil producing about 6 thousand megajoules. Taking those numbers into account you arrive at 17.6 million barrels of oil, enough oil to run 1.5 million cars on U.S. roadways for an entire year.
Americans are not alone in their addiction to bottled water. Although America is the number one consumer, other large consumers are Mexico, China, Brazil, Italy, Germany, France, Indonesia, Spain and India. The graph shows the difference of consumption from 1999 to 2004. A more clear version of the graph can be found here. In 2004 the previously mentioned countries consumed the following amount of liters in the billions: 
United States 25.8, Mexico 17.7, China 11.9, Brazil 11.6, Italy 10.7, Germany 10.3, France 8.5, Indonesia 7.4, Spain 5.5, India 5.1 and all other countries 39.9. This brings a total consumption in the billions of liters in 2004 to 154.3. Just for worldwide consumption of bottled water in 2004 alone it took roughly 87.4 million barrels of oil. You can imagine that with statistics for 2008, we have arrived at a figure in the hundreds of millions of barrels of oil being used just to produce bottled water. At 87.4 million barrels of oil, that’s enough to run 7.5 million cars on U.S. roadways for an entire year.
America and the world’s addiction to plastic doesn’t end there. Plastic bags have become commonplace all over the world for their ease of production, cheapness compared to paper bags at 2 cents a plastic bag and 4 to 6 cents for paper bags. The plastic bags are also light weight for transporting. Plastic bags take oil, just like plastic bottles to produce. Currently the U.S. consumes 100 billion plastic shopping bags in a year and worldwide consumption is estimated to be from 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags a year. That is roughly 1 million plastic bags a minute being consumed and less than 1% is recycled. The oil cost? With the 100 billion bags consumed in America it takes 12 million barrels of oil a year. Taking that figure and applying it to worldwide consumption you come up with a figure around 60 million - 120 million barrels of oil a year to produce plastic bags.
While it will not greatly impact the current problems we are having with oil, we can help save the environment by turning to recycling for all of the plastic products that we use. An interesting graph was provided by the Container Recycling organization showing the difference between the United States and Sweden in recycling PET bottles. In 2004 you can see that the U.S. was down to about 20% of all bottles consumed sending the rest to the landfill where they will sit for around 1,000 years.
Recycling plastic bags have not been much of a success either. In fact in the U.S. where 100 billion plastic bags are consumed it is estimated that only 1 percent to 3 percent of the bags are recycled. This leaves the rest of the bags in our landfills and other unsightly places like that plastic bag you saw blowing down the street last week.
In January of 2008 The Daily Green announced that China had made the decision to place a nationwide ban on plastic bags. 
The Chinese State Council set a date of June 1st, 2008 for all stores, small and large, to stop using plastic bags in the country. China was previously the largest user of plastic bags in the world using around 37 million barrels of oil for their bags. As mentioned by The Daily Green China is not alone with other large countries like Ireland and Uganda banning plastic bags. The United States is seeing similar measures in city and county government to place bans on the use of plastic bags.
The solutions are tough to swallow sometimes, especially when it could mean completely removing common and convenient plastic products out of our lives. However, even major retail outlets are trying to make it easier. During Earth Day Week this year Wal-Mart made prominent spots for their reusable $1.00 bags. Grabbing 5 - 10 of these bags can drastically change your impact on the environment by remembering to use a reusable and washable bag when shopping. The water bottle market is a little harder to deal with, especially in countries like Mexico where the public drinking water truly isn’t safe in some parts of the country. Home purification and refrigerator filtering systems can make sure people in America get better quality water. Looking at recently released reports, purifying your own water is probably more beneficial than the bottled water industry’s water anyway. Some reports claim that bottled water is sometimes nothing more than glorified city tap water. 
If you decide to take a step on your own to cut down on plastic water bottle usage, you could always get a reusable water bottle made by companies like Sigg. As of right now there are over 100 available on eBay that you can have shipped to your doorstep and start making a difference next week!
America and the world’s dirty little oil secret seems to be that while we are unhappy with the rise in oil prices, we really can make a difference if we all take action. It’s hard to change the comforts that the modern world has brought us, but you can do it in smalls steps and still have conveniences you’re use to with a little change. In just America alone, we are using 29.6 million barrels of oil a year to have the convenience of plastic bags and plastic water bottles. This could literally provide enough oil to fuel 2 - 3 million cars in the U.S. every single year. If you look at world figures we are using 147.4 - 207.4 million barrels of oil to use plastic bags and plastic bottles worldwide. That alone is more than OPEC pumps in a day at 32.22 million. The U.S. imports around 13.15 million barrels of oil a day according the CIA factbook. By seeing these number hopefully you will realize that you can make a difference in our oil costs, the environment and live a greener life all around. Please let us know your thoughts here by leaving a comment.
[…] billion water bottles and 500 billion - 1 trillion bags=147.4 - 207.4 million barrels of oil a year.read more | digg […]
Wow, the Real News!
Do you know under which sewer drain they hiding depleted uranium?
America\’s dirty little oil secret: Plastic Bottles and Bags | CommentURL.com…
\r\nAmerica consumes 31.2 billion water bottles a year taking 17.6 million barrels…
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The second graph is worthless on it’s own. It has no title. Unless one reads the article there is no way to tell what is being compared.
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Recycle humans also.
The article’s assertion that the US is the “number one consumer” of bottled water is contradicted by the very data used to make that claim. According to the Earth Policy Institude data linked in the article, the US on a per-person basis in both 1999 and 2004 consumed less bottled water than Italy, Mexico, UAE, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, Switzerland, and Cyprus. The US is somewhat unremarkable in its consumption of bottled water when looking at individual behavior. The bottled water problem lies mostly with European habits, according to that data source.
Wrong. Oil is refined into many different products and the demand for oil is driven by the demand for gasoline. Plastic bags are a byproduct of refining oil into gasoline, vasoline is too. When sugar cane is refined into sugar, molasses is a byproduct of that process and plastic is the same thing for oil and gasoline. Plastic would have to be a lot more expensive for refiners to increase production because people want plastic bottles because it doesn’t come close to covering the costs of production.
Recycling is important as is proper disposal of plastic bags. The demand for either one absolutely does not increase the cost of gasoline. In the unusual circumstance that the price of plastic does influence he price of gasoline it would lower it by paying for a greater portion of the production costs.
Great article! I’m so sick of all the leftover bags laying around. People need to wake up. Wake up suckas!
[…] billion water bottles and 500 billion - 1 trillion bags=147.4 - 207.4 million barrels of oil a year.read more | digg […]
I have to stop the store clerks at my local shop from putting items with handles on them in plastic bags even! I bring my own canvas bags to the shop and don’t use the plastic bags. The clerks still want to put my gallon of milk in a plastic bag though. Why? It has a handle!
Also, I don’t drink bottled water. Why put something in plastic and fly it around the world when you can just get it out of a tap? If your local water supply is that bad, just invest in a good filtration system.
Leftover bags are what I use to put my garbage in. They are very useful. I do not know of any cities that have a recycling program that accepts plastic bags for recycling. So wtf am I supposed to do with them?
That said, every damn city should have a program to recycle plastic bottles. So when you see some one throwing something out that can be recycled, call them out. It’s really not that hard and they deserve to feel bad, or at least leave annoyed. If you even get them to notice their disgustingly obnoxious behavior you are making a huge difference.
Another thing not calculated in this: The cost of transporting the water to your store and then to your house. 25.8 billion liters is at least 26 billion kg. You Americans do know this stuff flows into your house through handy little pipes right? More often than not it is available all the time too…
I do believe even Jesus himself, living in the time of the Roman Empire, would have seen an aqueduct compared it to a guy hoisting water barrels onto a donkey cart and concluded that the aqueduct was considerably more energy efficient!
So get a water filter. Take the time to poor water into it and wait for it to filter, this will make you feel like you have a complished something. Then be happy that you are consuming yet another thing: Lots and lots of plastic, disposable, water filters.
Legalize Hemp you tards!
Any eco friendly measure will cost and not everybody will be happy about it.
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World plastic bottle and bag usage accounts for up to 0.67% of total annual oil production (using the figures presented in this article and 2006 daily prodcution as stated at http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update67.htm).
The effect on gas prices is negligible. Then consider Joe Econ’s comment about the plastic used to make bottles and bags being a byproduct of refining crude oil into gasoline and we are left with yet another passionately written, well intentioned, article which misrepresents the facts in order to urge interested readers into living greener lifestyles.
Drinking from plastic bottles seems to be bad for your health. You may want to consider avoiding this. If you do make use of a plastic bottle, make sure that you recycle it when your are done.
Plastic bags are a problem. Do your best to avoid using them. We should also insist that every city accepts this perfectly recyclable product into its recycling program. We should also insist that retailers switch to using biodegradable bags. There are poly products available that are capable of either breaking down if they make their way into our landfills or onto our streets and can also be reccycled if properly disposed of.
IN REPLY TO WILHUF’S COMMENT:
“The article’s assertion that the US is the “number one consumer” of bottled water is contradicted by the very data used to make that claim. According to the Earth Policy Institude data linked in the article, the US on a per-person basis in both 1999 and 2004 consumed less bottled water than Italy, Mexico, UAE, Belgium, France, Spain, Germany, Lebanon, Switzerland, and Cyprus. The US is somewhat unremarkable in its consumption of bottled water when looking at individual behavior. The bottled water problem lies mostly with European habits, according to that data source.”
Dear Wilhuf,
You state the data is incorrect and answer your own garbled claim. The US is the number one consumer of bottled water in the world. If we were looking at data in reference to consumption per person, the US would not be #1. What’s your point? The data is correct, as simple as it sounds the US consumes more bottles per water than any country in the world. If some of the other countries were as large in population as the US they would in fact surpass the United States in consumption. Thanks for pointing out the point and wasting our time by trying to sound intelligent, not impressed.
IN REPLY TO GREENDEAN’S COMMENT:
If you’re calculation is correct, we’re not going to spend too much time on your information as it’s made from misguided and unresearched opinion… so if you’re calculation is correct and world plastic bottle and bag usage does account for 0.67% of total annual oil production this is the type of impact it would make:
Just recently the House speaker, Nanci Pelosi, asked President Bush to halt the SPR (Strategic Petroleum Reserve) in order to bring down oil prices. Quoted from the following article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080424/pl_nm/usa_congress_spr_dc
“Pelosi said suspending deliveries would save drivers 5 cents to 24 cents per gallon at the pump.
As U.S. benchmark crude oil prices hit a record near $120 a barrel this week, the Bush administration insists that filling the reserve accounts for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of daily supply, and has no meaningful effect on prices.”
So the SPR at only 1/10 of 1% reduction is expected to create a 5 cent to 24 cent per gallon decrease at the pump. With the figure of 0.67% being removed from oil usage by eliminating water bottle and plastic bag consumption we see that it is 7/10’s of 1%. So a 7 times greater reduction at the pump would be 35 cents to $1.68 at the gas pump. If you don’t think that 35 cents to $1.68 is a significant reduction then you clearly don’t have an issue with current pump prices.
In regards to the hogwash made up statements you and Joe Econ are circulating, Plastic Bottles and Plastic Bags are in fact not created as byproducts from refinding. They use raw materials from crude oil.
A fairly detailed account can be found here:
http://www.polarisinstitute.org/oil_in_my_water
An you can also read this quoted from the site:
“The process
The process (our analysis is based on research of US PET production) of producing PET (Polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles involves a number of different stages using multiple producers in the supply chain.
The following outlines the various basic stages and the fossil fuel based raw materials used in the production of a PET plastic bottle. The corporate players involved in the production of raw materials are highlighted to provide a bigger picture of the players in the supply chain of a bottled of water.
Some of the corporations are widely recognizable, while others are more obscure. The important point in this analysis, however, is that the bottled water manufacturers are the end point of a supply chain that contains some of the biggest polluters on the planet.
Step one: the production of PET’s main raw materials
The supply chain for PET plastic bottles begins with two streams which produce PET’s primary raw materials, terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG). These two streams come together when PET is actually produced in a factory through the chemical reaction between PTA and MEG.
These raw materials account for approximately 75 to 80 percent of the total manufacturing cost of PET.
PTA
Terephthalic acid, one of PET’s two primary raw materials, is produced using paraxylene. Paraxylene, which is very similar to gasoline, is derived from crude oil through a refining process at oil and petrochemical refineries.
A number of oil companies in the US produce paraxylene including British Petroleum, Chalmette Refining (50/50 joint venture between ExxonMobil and Petróleos de Venezuela S.A.), Chevron Phillips Chemical (50/50 joint venture between Chevron and ConocoPhillips), ExxonMobil, Flint Hills (owned by private conglomerate Koch Enterprises), and Lyondell. These facilities are all located in the gulf region of the United States.
At this point, the PET plastic bottle supply chain divides into two categories of PTA producers:
1. Companies that make both paraxylene and PTA – In the United States this category is occupied by British Petroleum’s Chemical division, BP Chemicals, and the private conglomerate Koch Industries. In BP’s case its refineries in Decatur, Alabama and Texas City, Texas produce paraxylene which is then turned into PTA at the company’s operations in Decatur, Alabama and Cooper River, South Carolina. In the case of Koch Industries, its refining division, Flint Hills Resources, manufactures paraxylene at its operations in Corpus Christi Texas while its fiber and polymer company Invista turns paraxylene into PTA. While BP sells its PTA to PET manufacturers, Invista (Koch Industries) uses the PTA it manufactures for its own PET production.
2. Companies that purchase paraxylene and then produce PTA for their own PET production – In this category chemical companies purchase paraxylene directly from the refinery, transport it to their production facility where they will produce PTA either for sale on the market or for their own PET production. This category is occupied by two major players, DAK Americas (subsidiary of private Mexican conglomerate Alfa, 2006 revenue $6.8 billion), and Eastman Chemical Company (2006 annual revenue of $7.5 billion).
MEG
Monoethylene glycol (MEG), PET’s other primary raw material, is also derived from crude oil. In addition to being used by PET manufacturers, MEG is used to produce antifreeze and coolants for the automotive industry.
MEG’s main raw material is ethylene, which is produced in refineries by steam cracking hydrocarbons. Natural gas is also used to make ethylene.
Ethylene is more widely produced than paraxylene and is manufactured by a large number of oil and chemical companies in the United States. The leading ethylene producers in the United States include, ChevronPillips Chemical Company, Equistar Chemical Co., Exxon, Shell and Dow Chemical.
Once ethylene has been produced, MEG manufacturers will purchase it as a feedstock. Some of the large MEG producers in the United States include Eastman, Equistar Chemical Co., Formosa Plastics Corp (Owned by Chinese company Nan Ya Plastics), Huntsman Corp, Old World Industries, PD Glycol, Shell and Dow Chemical.
These companies produce MEG at their facilities and then either use it as a building block for various types of plastic, including PET, or sell down the supply chain to other manufacturers.”
[…] water bottles and 500 billion - 1 trillion bags=147.4 - 207.4 million barrels of oil a year. WOW !!read more | digg […]
Oil @ $120 a barrel. Now you know who is funding war efforts.
[…] peu de mathématiques pour ce week-end : Chaque année, on utilise autant de pétrole pour fabriquer des bouteilles […]
my krogers i shop at now has a recycle barrel for the plastic bags its a start and i do take them back when i shop there.
my krogers i shop at now has a recycle barrel for the plastic bags its a start and i do take them back when i shop there.
i think people should ask about this program where they shop
Let’s not forget about the “comfortable” SUV. How many people drive them JUST for the comfort instead of what thet were made for? Way too many. Otherwise, cloth bags and tap water usually works out better than using plastic.
To me, there are only two answers: recycle and recycle.
To show you the contrast:
In Belgium, the waste is sorted by the consumers into paper, organic, plastic, chemical (as overdate pharmaceutical products), batteries, plastics and ‘all others’. Selective garbage collection is done in weekly cycles. (just as a note of interest: plastic bags are NOT to be put in the plastic waste, why, is still a mystery to me).
On top of that, we can go and deposit our garbage at recycle container parks which also selects foam, wood, iron, electronics, etc…
Supermarkets are now, more and more, no longer giving plastic bags, but sell reusable bags.
In my second home, Rome-Italy, waste is not selected, and everything is dumped at random in containers spread everywhere in the city.
This shows what a difference public policy can make.
Thanks for addressing my concerns with your article. I understand why you may have been iritated by comments–sorry. Seems like we’re on the same side but I’m still not sure that I’m on board with some of your assertions.
In regards to the article that you reference to support what may happen if crude oil supply increases (or in this case crude oil consumption decreases) there are clearly two opposing views presented. There are those cited in that article as stating that “We don’t believe the fill rates have a meaningful impact on oil supplies”. If you researched both views further and found solid research to favour Pelosi’s claim over the other, I would be interested in reading it.
In regards to the article “Oil in My Water?”, there is mention that the ingrdients for producing plastic bottles unltimately come from crude oil but there is no mention of whether or not these ingredients are byproducts. It does state that “Terephthalic acid, one of PET’s two primary raw materials, is produced using paraxylene”. A quick google search revealed that “Para-xylene is a byproduct of reforming processes for the manufacture of fuels, particularly for the manufacture of gasoline”.
http://www.wipo.int/pctdb/en/wo.jsp?wo=1996003209&IA=WO1996003209&DISPLAY=DESC
It sickens me how much more we as Americans consume bottled water compared to countries that do not have the luxury of clean drinking water from a faucet (if they even have a faucet).
How many more luxuries are we going to take for granted? We are destroying this world for something that was don’t even need. Pretty soon, we aren’t going to have anything, and then what will we do?
I’m so angry right now
BizShrink wrote: “the US consumes more bottles per water .”
Are you saying American bottles carry less water than in other countries? According to what source?
Although I get the sense that any time spent replying to “BizsShrink” is wasted, I did indeed leave an impression on those who matter: Countries smaller than the US, especially European states, are using up a disproportinately higher share of plastic water bottles, according to the data cited in this report. This businessshrink article omitted this fact.
[…] billion water bottles and 500 billion - 1 trillion bags=147.4 - 207.4 million barrels of oil a year.read more | digg […]
Gee, and all this time I though plastic was a by-product of the refining process.
Please do some research before making unfounded statements.
Thanks for the eye opener. Very well written.
[…] billion water bottles and 500 billion - 1 trillion bags=147.4 - 207.4 million barrels of oil a year.read more | digg story addthis_url = […]
You should cite the sources of your images, particularly the bottle illustration as it’s a fairly well-known work of art: http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=?view=XXX_09NNN/
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Johny Q, most grocery chains have a big basket near the entrances and exits where you can return your plastic bags to be recycled.
Now that Im aware, I just got my wife to pickup a recycling bin on my way home. This is shocking.
I cant wait to kiss my Cindy again…
I hate plastic bags and it seems everyone wants to give me one! I am using biodegradable ones to clean up after my dog.
[…] The Business Shrink.com America’s Dirty Little Oil Secret: Plastic Bottles and Bags […]
It is good to use biodegradable materials for such purposes. Now the threat with the plastics is going high, people should be educated about environmental disaster the plastic materials can cause.
Leading an eco-friendly life is the only way to save the earth. We all are responsible directly or indirectly to this situation. It is therefore vital that we take action ourselves by using recycled products as far as possible and educating others about consuming minimum energy resources are far as possible.
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[…] recently stumbled over this article regarding the out of control consumption of plastic bottles and plastic bags and it really tripped […]
[…] and the bottle water that you’ve been drinking. Turns out it’s petroleum– the same thing that’s costing us more at the pump… Bottom line, the production of 31.2 billion liters of water for the U.S. bottled water […]
Time to make a change, guys.
I don’t clean up after my dog, shit is organic and will decompose naturally. Birds shit all over the place and no one gets all tuned up about it, cars pollute, cigarette butts are everywhere. Dog shit has been demonized for no good reason by the same turkeys that put poison on their lawns. Plastic is for the lazy and stupid which unfortunately takes in most of us. We are getting what we deserve.
Germany appears on your list as no. 6 consumer of bottled water.
Two points:
1. most water is bought in reused glass bottles - a deposit is paid and they are returned after use for cleaning.
2. The plastic bottles that are used carry a hefty 15-25c deposit. this ensures that the bottles are taken back and recycled.
These systems are universal in Germany…
We produced a film about plastic bags - check it out.
http://www.eco-tube.com/v/ACT/A_Plastic_Bag_Movie.aspx
I Think a companys that makes any Plastic items should be the ones responsible for recycling the products.
Hey, I see these plastic bags caught in the trees and floating down the street when it rains…going into the creeks and blown into yards and drains. What’s it gonna take to wake people up? WAKE UP and LOOK AROUND! Bliss….