The following set of facts come from Elizabeth Royte’s Bottlemania. This is the third set of facts that have been used for the Five Friday Facts. Click here for the first one. For the second set, click here.
- According to restaurant consultant Clark Wolf, the restaurant industry revenue from bottled water sales is between $200 million and $350 million annually.
- Tap water costs 240 to 10,000 times less than bottled water.
- According to research conducted by the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), between 1960 and 1970 the average person bought 200 to 250 packaged drinks each year – mostly soda and beer – and many of those were in refillable bottles.
- In 2006, Americans consumed an average of 686 single-serve beverages per person per year; in 2007 we collectively drank 50 billion single-serve bottles of water alone.
- In 1987, U.S. per capita consumption of bottled water was 5.7 gallons; by 1997 it was 12.1; and in 2006, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation, the average American drank 27.6 gallons of bottled.
Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art
