Bottled Water

h2photo · Aug 16, 2007

My sister-in-law sent me this & I figured she worded it wonderfully that I'll just copy/paste! We stopped buying water bottles a few months ago, we have a few gallon bottles of water on hand for emergencies & then we use re-useable bottles. I also love my SIGG bottle!

Hi guys,
We are doing some organic farming programming at the library and in my research I came across some information about plastic bottles that I thought I would forward. I am far from a 'greeny' and you would have risk serious harm to try to make me give up my minivan, but I have switched to a SIGG bottle for drinking water to make a small dent in the landfill issue.

I bought a SIGG (got mine at whole foods) because it doesn't leak any chemicals back into the water and the water tastes great (I was skeptical about a metal bottle, but it is fabulous). The thought of 22 billion plastic bottles ending up in landfills annually is frightening, so I am doing my part to get the word out about these great portable bottles.

Tapped Out: The True Cost of Bottled Water
by Solvie Karlstrom

From childhood, we're told to drink at least eight glasses of water each day. Unfortunately more and more Americans drink those eight glasses out of plastic bottlesâ€”a convenience that stuffs landfills, clogs waterways and guzzles valuable fossil fuels.

Last year Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, and then tossed over 22 billion empty plastic bottles in the trash. In bottle production alone, the more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the U.S. drain 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year.

Not only does bottled water contribute to excessive waste, but it costs us a thousand times more than water from our faucet at home, and it is, in fact, no safer or cleaner. "The bottled water industry spends millions of dollars a year to convince us that their product is somehow safer or healthier than tap water, when in fact that's just not true," says Victoria Kaplan, senior organizer with Food and Water Watch, a nonprofit that recently launched a Take Back the Tap campaign to get consumers to ditch bottled water. "As much as 40 percent of bottled water started out as the same tap water that we get at home," she adds. A 1999 Natural Resources Defense Council study found that, with required quarterly testing, tap water may even be of a higher quality than bottled, which is only tested annually.

Water aside, the plastic used in both single-use and reusable bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter

While single-use water bottles should never be used more than once, some reusable water bottles simply shouldn't be used. The debate continues over the safety of bisphenol A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical known to leach out of the #7 polycarbonate plastic used to make a variety of products, including popular Nalgene Lexan water bottles. New studies keep cropping up that don't bode well for BPA, demonstrating that even extremely low doses of the chemical can be damaging. Recent research has linked the chemical to a variety of disorders, including obesity and breast cancer, and one chilling 2007 study, published in the journal PLoS Genetics, found that BPA exposure can cross generations. Pregnant mice exposed to low levels of BPA led to chromosomal abnormalities, which possibly cause birth defects and miscarriages, in grandchildren.

Avoid the perils of plastic altogether with a metal water bottle that can handle a variety of liquids, including acidic fruit juices, and won't leach chemicals into your beverage. Klean Kanteen's stainless steel bottle is lightweight, durable, and entirely chemical free. Avoid detergents that contain chlorine when cleaning Klean Kanteens; chlorine can corrode stainless steel. Another attractive alternative to plastic is the aluminum Sigg bottle with a taste-inert, water-based epoxy lining. Independent lab tests commissioned by the company found that the resin leached no detectable quantities of BPA, while other unlined aluminum and polycarbonate bottles subjected to the same conditions did.

Better Bottles

Kleen Kanteen stainless steel water bottle w/ cap, 27 fluid ounces ($17.95; www.kleankanteen.com)

Sigg resin coated aluminum sport bottle, 25 ounces ($19.99; www.mysigg.com)

MLS Stainless Steel Thermos Bottle, 1 liter ($22.16; www.mls-group.com)

Platypus #5 polypropylene 2+collapsible water bottle, 2.4 liters ($9.95; www.rei.com)

Nalgene HDPE Loop-Top Bottle, 16 ounces ($4.53; www.nalgene-outdoor.com)
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Rae Vynn · Aug 16, 2007

I have a Kleen Kanteen water bottle. Actually, I bought two, so Dear Hubby has his own.
Really nice to have!
We went from buying a case of bottled water a week to buying the odd one bottle of water maybe once in a month.
They are easy to clean, really easy.
I personally would stay away from the resin lined ones. "Independant" testing and all, I still wouldn't trust them. The Kleen Kanteen is seamless stainless steel, inside and out. Has absolutely no taste residue, either.

TonyPSchaefer · Aug 16, 2007

The Siggs are very nice.
Here at work, I have a glass VOSS bottle that I refill and wash every so often.

It truly is sad the amount of plastic containers that are ignorantly chucked into a landfill and forgotten about, only to be made up for through the production of brand new plastic from raw materials.

Reduce the amount of plastic you use.
Reuse the plastic you can (without personal harm).
Recycle the plastic at the end of its life.

SSimon · Aug 16, 2007

How does that stainless steel work for you guys? I've always like the plastic sports bottles as when I work out I can remain active and just squeeze the water out. Currently, I'm using Nalgene. Is it difficult to get the water out of a non squeezable bottle?

Also, what's the safest plastic for water bottles. I had heard the harder the better.

tekn0wledg · Aug 16, 2007

My wife and I are using Nalgene bottles as well, even though I have heard so many reports of them causing cancer etc. I did alot of research and never found a conclusive study on it from a reputable source.... so I went with it ::knock on wood::

ohershey · Aug 16, 2007

There was a long and interesting discussion of tap vs. bottled water over in "Environmental Discussion", here. I posted a bunch of links and info over there that I'm feeling to lazy to excavate....

Bottled Water

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