A Bottle A Day Keeps the Plastic Away: by Amy MacMillan

Traveling.  Most of us do this often. Sometimes it’s from the home to work, other times it’s a journey across the ocean.  Recently for me, it meant a road trip to Philadelphia to play a Real Tennis tournament.  Without going into great detail about the sport, I can tell you it’s a unique style of tennis that I play here in Newport.  With sports, hydration is paramount yet most people are turning to sports and energy drinks in stead of water.  9 Billion dollars worth this year alone!  So how does that relate to my little road trip to play tennis you ask?  Well I decided to really think about how I would consume my water, coffee and smoothies, (ok, beer too).   

Now, like most of you, I am busy.  I have kids, work, hobbies, bills, but I find that if I take the extra time to plan ahead and pack, even one bottle, I get a huge sense of satisfaction.  So, I packed three for this trip, (doesn’t hurt to triple my satisfaction right?).  One Hydro Flask for my coffee and two bottles from Liberty Bottleworks for my morning smoothie and daily water.  I hit the road, bottles in tow and set out to travel the distance while avoiding the purchase of any single use plastic bottles.

Once I arrived at the hotel I found there was really no reason for anyone to purchase bottled water.   They had ample filtered water available and so I refilled,  and refilled, and refilled.  Aside from the fact that I was sweating up a storm, I found that I drank much more than my daily requirements for water, (and possibly beer…) just by carrying my reusable bottle with me.

This trip was an easy one.  All I had to do was pack some bottles and use the available resources.  Traveling by plane or staying a greater distance from the sports venue would have made this more challenging.  I hope that when presented with such a circumstance I can be resourceful and not rely on convenience.  It’s daily challenge and I know we are not all there yet.

My hope is that one day, all sports venues, schools, businesses and the rest, will have refill stations and the reliance on plastic will be nil.