Refill Your Water Bottle

reusable water bottles around town

Americans drank 14 billion gallons of bottled water in 2019. That's 3500 single-use bottles every second! Only one of every four plastic bottles get recycled in the US -- the rest end up in the landfill or as litter. But even if you always recycle your plastic water bottles, it's best not to make waste in the first place.

Jump to water bottle filling locations.

Single-use water bottles waste natural resources 

Making and shipping a new plastic bottle uses energy, water, and other natural resources. First, plastic is made from crude oil and natural gas, then it’s used to make a bottle. Making a plastic liter bottle uses a third of a liter of water!

After the bottle is filled with water, it’s shipped to stores where you can buy it. Water is heavy so it uses a lot of energy to ship, especially if it is coming from far away. The bottled water we drank in the US in 2016 produced as many greenhouse gas emissions as 2.5 million passenger cars!

Recycling helps, but not as much as reuse

water bottle filling station and drinking fountain at Juanita Beach Park bathhouse

Reuse saves energy

Recycling your single-use water bottle is better than throwing it away. But it's much better to get one durable water bottle and reuse it. Washing your reusable water bottle uses much less water and energy than making new plastic water bottles.

Recycling takes energy and resources

When you recycle a plastic bottle, it has to get broken down into raw material before it can be used to make something new. That process takes energy and water. Making a new bottle from that plastic also uses energy, water, and other resources. Finally, the recycled plastic bottle has to be shipped to the store. Because the bottle you recycle has to go through so many steps to make a new bottle, it only reduces climate impacts by 20-35 percent compared with brand-new plastic.

We can't recycle our way out of the problem

That's not even the whole story! Most "recycled" bottles are made with ten to thirty percent recycled plastic but are mostly new plastic. So even recycled bottles still take new plastic to make!

To top it off, less than half of the water bottles that are recycled get made into new bottles. Most are made into polyester fabric that doesn't get recycled — that makes a plastic dead-end.

Choose reusable!

Reusing is much better for the planet than single-use bottles, even when you recycle them!

The City of Kirkland's Recycling Team has provided bottle filling stations around town to make it easier for you to choose reusable!

Refilling Your Reusable Bottle in Kirkland

Step 1.Bring Your Own Bottle

Step 2.Refill It

 Refill your reusable water bottle at these locations around Kirkland:

refilling reusable water bottle at City Hall fountain bottle filling station City Facilities (open during facility hours)

  • Kirkland City Hall (downtown)
    123 Fifth Ave
    Stations in both upstairs and downstairs lobby

  • Peter Kirk Community Center (downtown)
    352 Kirkland Ave
    In lobby

  • Kirkland Justice Center (Totem Lake)
    11740 NE 118th Street
    In both lobbies

City Parks (open during park hours)

  • Marina Park (downtown) - NEW 2022!
    25 Lake Shore Plaza
    Next to bathroom, near the dock

  • Juanita Beach Park (Juanita)
    9703 NE Juanita Dr
    On east side of bathhouse, near the playground

  • Totem Lake Park (Totem Lake)
    12207 NE Totem Lake Way
    On side of bathroom

  • Everest Park (Everest) 
    500 8th St. S
    Near the informal picnic area 

  • Peter Kirk Park (Downtown)
    202 3rd St.
    Next to the Peter Kirk pool 

  • David E. Brink (Moss Bay)
    555 Lake St. S
    Just past the park sign off the sidewalk

Other Public Facilities (not City-owned)

  • Kirkland Library (downtown)
    308 Kirkland Ave
    In lobby near bathrooms

Step 3.Keep Reusing!

A reusable water bottle can be used hundreds of times before it needs to be recycled or thrown away.