A lot of people feel like they’re helping the planet with their reusable water bottles, shopping bags and straws, but it all depends on how many times the product is used.
It takes a lot of uses - sometimes hundreds and thousands - to offset the amount of carbon emissions and toxic materials used to make these eco-friendly items. The most egregious cloth shopping bags - Used 71-hundred times to offset the CO2 emitted during production.
A bottle made of stainless steel, aluminum, glass or BPA-free plastic needs to be used 500 times to offset the carbon emissions used to make it.
Cloth napkin - Needs to be used 43 times to offset the amount of carbon emissions used to make it, and washing it after each use adds to its emissions footprint.
A reusable coffee cup would need to be used 100 times to offset the 4.4-pounds of carbon emissions it takes to produce it.
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