Sometimes I feel like tossing bottled water down the toilet to show my disdain. Maybe I’m not the only one?

A recent post at the Intuit Blog featured a great visual guide / infograph describing how small cutbacks in the home can lead to great savings. Things like changing to CFL’s, insulating the home, etc. were noted. One thing I found interesting was their idea to help save money with each flush:

A 20oz or 32oz bottle filled with water and placed in the toilet tank will reduce water use. Each flush is about one cent, roughly $48 a year.

What a great way to make use of bottled water, should you have it lying around. I’m sure I’ve never mentioned this before, but this is certainly a way you can actually save money by using bottled water [in a way I'm sure companies like Dasani and Aquafina are not quite embracing].

Budgeting: A Visual Guide to How Small Cutbacks Lead to Great Savings [Quicken Personal Finance Tips]

My previous post offered a few ideas about what to do with old plastic bottles you may have at your workplace or home.  Crafty Reuse has gone a step further, giving us “Ten Projects for Plastic Bottles”.  Here’s one of my favorites:

Re-Nest’s Trend Watch highlights plastic bottle lighting ideas. There are a few that would be easy to do yourself. You can also try drilling small holes into the caps of small water or juice bottles and stringing them on Christmas lights. You can decorate the bottles with paint and sparkly things for some extra pizzazz!

“Ten Projects for Plastic Bottles” [via Crafty Reuse]

Bottled water waste continues to be a major concern for our world.  In 2006, Americans used nearly 50 billion plastic water bottles and sent nearly 38 billion to landfills.  If laid end to end, that’s enough bottles to travel from the Earth to the Moon and back 10 times.

Looking to make an environmentally friendly impact at your office?  Here are 9 ways to reduce plastic bottle waste at your workplace.

1. Initiate a Company-Wide Ban on Single-Use Water Bottles

Imagine a workplace free of plastic bottle waste filling up waste containers.  Encourage your company to consider a  ban on single-use water bottles thus becoming more green and sustainable.    Having trouble getting the management to agree to such an egregious suggestion?  Sell them on the idea that instituting something like this will be great for PR and make your company a bright spot in the green business community.

2. Prominently Display Recycling Containers Throughout Your Facility

Okay.  I get it.  Maybe some companies out there aren’t quite ready for a complete ban on bottles.  Well there’s still hope through recycling.  Did you know that recycling one ton of plastic saves 7.4 cubic yards of landfill space?  Take the initiative to get a company-wide recycling program started by placing recycling containers throughout your office.  Send co-workers memos noting the new containers and why recycling is important.   For a more detailed look at starting an office recycling program, check out Wake County’s Guide to Starting a Recycling Program.

3. Install a Sustainable Water Dispenser

Forget single-use bottled water and start using a sustainable water dispenser to fill up your sports bottle and meet the needs for hydration.  The HydrationStation water dispenser features a touch-free, hygienic interface with built-in filter technology to make tap water taste great.  Water dispensers like the HydrationStation can save your company thousands of dollars on bottled water costs while creating a more eco-friendly work environment.  (more…)

Giving up bottled water isn’t always the easiest thing.  For many, bottled water is a mainstay of the home and office; breaking this habbit requires diligence.

Ecosalon has put together a great list on how to give up bottled water – here are some of the tips:

…one of the best things you can do for the environment and your wallet is to go back to tap water. You can install a water filter at your house if you like but really there’s no need – unless you’re living in the developing world and then you probably need more drastic measures, anyway. In countries like the United States, Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and most of Europe, tap water is proven to be very pure, sometimes purer than the spring waters sold in bottles. (Tap water comes out quite well in blind taste tests.)

…if you’re going to drink from a bottle, make it wine. And if you cement one new habit in 2009 for the greener good, it’s got to be giving up the bottle.

How to Give Up Bottled Water [via Ecosalon]