Green Alliance has released a report with figures revealing the problems of supposedly eco-friendly alternatives.
According to the charity if half of the UK’s plastic water bottles switched to cans, mining the aluminium could generate 162,010 tonnes of toxic waste.
The report says if half switched to glass bottles it could result in as many emissions as are created by a population the size of Bath.
Also as cartons can’t be recycled, if half the population switched to paper cartons it would create 98,141 tonnes of low-quality waste every year.
The amount of bottled water consumed in the UK has doubled in the past 15 years, and is still rising and the market is still dominated by plastic, with the average UK adult using 150 single-use plastic water bottles every year.
Green Alliance says the only low impact option for hydration is a refillable container.
Libby Peake, senior policy adviser on resources at Green Alliance, said: “‘Single-use’ was named word of the year in 2018 as the public became more aware of the impacts of our throwaway society.”
“But so far, people are mainly targeting single-use plastic and the concern hasn’t translated to other materials, which also have environmental consequences.”
She adds: “If we don’t need single-use plastic water bottles, we also don’t need single-use cans, cartons, or glass bottles for water.”