Plastic Water Bottles Shunned By Travelers, Airports

Travelers are becoming increasingly eco-conscious, with many travelers and travel properties lessening their reliance on plastic water bottles.

In green gung-ho California, passengers at San Francisco International Airport's refurbished Terminal 2 are being encouraged to refill their own water bottles at "hydration stations."

That's very nice of them, considering you can't bring bottled water through security anyway.

The glorified water fountains, located after security, will dispense city tap water from "pristine Sierra snowmelt," reports USA Today.

But the eco-friendliness doesn't stop there.

Beginning last fall, visitors to Italy's Cinque Terre were asked to pay one euro for reusable, metal flasks that could be refilled at public water fountains – with still or sparking chilled, filtered water. As The Telegraph reported, two million plastic bottles are discarded annually by the region's 3 million visitors, with 400,000 being discarded in August alone.

Hotels, too, are going bottle free.

Chilean travel company Explora purifies and treats its own water, also providing guests at its three adventure lodges with refillable metal flasks. The flasks can be filled with filtered water available in guest rooms and on daily excursions.

At RockResorts, guest rooms are stocked with refillable glass bottles of filtered water thanks to the "Water on the Rocks" program. Guests can also purchase a reusable BPA-free plastic or stainless steel water bottle to fill at water stations around their resort. The program is expected to eliminate the waste of 640,000 plastic bottles.