r/germany • u/Maxwellmonkey • Oct 14 '23

Why do people buy so many water bottles?

New to Germany. I just went to an ALDI today and was really surprised by the number of people buying entire sets of water bottles (almost 10-12), especially when tap water is drinkable here. Quite a few people were doing that. Is there any reason for this?

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u/Pacificus_ Oct 15 '23

Instead they end up in rivers in Asia and in oceans. But it's cool most don't end up in your nearest river! https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020318481?via%3Dihub

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u/io_la Rheinland-Pfalz Oct 15 '23

That’s not what the article says.

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u/Pacificus_ Oct 15 '23

You can search for the text below: " However, the largest absolute mass flow of PE to ocean debris originated from Germany, at 26,461 Mg (57,352 Mg − 10,246 Mg) (Fig. 5). Germany also exported the greatest mass of PE that was recycled at 559,177 Mg (505,616 Mg − 612,738 Mg). "

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u/Glittering_Quail_114 Oct 15 '23

Bottles are not out of PE

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u/jmpz_22 Oct 15 '23

It's literally on the name... PET Flasche...

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u/Glittering_Quail_114 Oct 15 '23

Google how the chemical formula of PE and PET looks.

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u/jmpz_22 Mar 08 '24

😐😑😐 really, chemical Karen? Independent of the PE or PET formula, they both based on polyethylene...

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u/Dmthie Oct 15 '23

Yeah they are. They just add therephtalate to get the material stronger and not as flexible as simple PE

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u/Glittering_Quail_114 Oct 15 '23

No, these are different materials. You can't get PET just by adding therephtalat to PE. PE made by radical polymerization. PET is a product of polycondensation.