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BANG FOR THE BITE
What's not to love? Switching from plastic to a more inert material is easy, inexpensive, good for you, and great for the planet.
COCKTAIL FACT
Desert rats and koala bears are the only animals that don't drink water (they get all their H2O from the food they eat).
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home › tip library › Water Bottles
Is an unsafe bottle repressing your thirst?
The Bite
Time for some bottle therapy. It used to be practically a requirement for the eco-conscious urbanite to lug water in reusable hard-plastic bottles, but it turns out those bottles can leach toxins. Choose lined aluminum, stainless steel, or glass instead.The Benefits
- Health-consciousness. Polycarbonate plastic used in bottles by Nalgene and other companies leaches bisphenol-A, which is linked to birth defects, miscarriage, and prostate cancer.
- Less waste. Plastic water bottles require 1.5 million barrels of oil each year to make.
- Hydration. Experts recommend we drink six to seven glasses of H2O per day, so keep a bottle handy.
- Hipster appeal. Metal and glass options now come in supercool colors and designs.
Personally Speaking
The Biter team probably looks like a group of crazy evangelicals when we hang out away from the office, with all of our Biter bottles in tow.Wanna Try?
- Biter Bottles - the lightest, highest quality reusable option is our very own resin-lined aluminum SIGG bottle, in silver and gold ($20).
- Kleen Kanteen Water Bottle - made from dishwasher-safe stainless steel and holds 27 oz ($18).
- SIGG Kids Series - get lil' Biters started down the healthier path ($18).
- VOSS - its water comes in cool-looking reusable glass bottles; buy one, and use the bottle for life ($3).
Why is toting your tap water better than buying bottled? Check out yesterday's tip.
Jul 12,2007
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All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
Not Exactly the Partridge Family
The Partridges had matching outfits, the Addams's all lacked pulses, and the Clampitts failed Etiquette 101. My whole family drinks its H2O from SIGG bottles. Even my brother and sister, neither of whom read Ideal Bite, are all about their SIGGs.
My bro'll be a junior in college next fall. He says his allowance doesn't seem to go as far as it used to, so he appreciates the money he saves by forgoing conventional bottles. My nutrition-obsessed sister is wary of plastic leaching into her drinks. My mom likes that the aluminum keeps water colder, longer, and my dad just likes the look of the things.
SIGG-lovers: Why'd you get your SIGG?
-Toshio...off to see what's showing on Nick at Nite...
My bro'll be a junior in college next fall. He says his allowance doesn't seem to go as far as it used to, so he appreciates the money he saves by forgoing conventional bottles. My nutrition-obsessed sister is wary of plastic leaching into her drinks. My mom likes that the aluminum keeps water colder, longer, and my dad just likes the look of the things.
SIGG-lovers: Why'd you get your SIGG?
-Toshio...off to see what's showing on Nick at Nite...
Biter Comments...
I just read on snopes.com that reusing water bottles is NOT harmful to you. We have been reusing these bottles here for over 5 months (I am a tightwad)Sheesh - have I given cancer to my entire family???
Are the biter bottles dishwasher safe?
Thanks for the tip! Any advice on the best way to dispose of my Nalegene after I replace it?
Wow - they were TOTALLY reading our minds with the blog yesterday ;) Thanks for the tip! Now... how do I transfer all my stickers from my Nalgene to the Biter Bottle...?!?!
I just weaned my wife and step-son off the water bottle kick and on to Kleen Kanteens. Another waste stream eliminated in the house. Will have to work at spreading the reusable bottle mantra.
Where does one buy the Voss glass bottles? The website says that most are only available at high-end hotels.
I normally love the daily bites but I have to say that I'm appalled by today's comment and lack of research to support it. The most up-to-date research has shown that bisphenol-A is not harmful in the quantities any normal person is exposed to. Check it out for yourself: http://www.bisphenol-a.org/
Additionally, most of those metal bottles dubbed as being "safe" actually use the same chemical in resin form as a lining inside the bottle.
It would be a shame if a bunch of people stopped reusing bottles because of unfounded fears about their safety.
I agree with Diane. Could you point us to definitive research that says Bisphenol-A is leaching from Nalgene bottles?
I can see that glass and stainless steel would be pretty safe.
How do you know that resin-lined aluminum is better than Nalgene? Is there safety data for the resin? If the resin breaks down overtime, would we be ingesting high levels of aluminum?
We discovered Voss water at a restaurant in Portsmouth, NH. We loved it (and the cool, glass bottle). Yesterday when I was at Whole Foods, I saw that Voss now has the same size and shape bottle in PLASTIC! I was so sad to see that. It might be more of an eco-plastic...I'm not sure.
Ciao,
JW
i agree that there seems to have been a real lack of research done on this tip. I do have Sigg AND Nalgene bottles. the water in the Sigg bottles freezes in the winter and heat up too readily in the real heat of some summer days. Glass is too hard to recycle in many areas (when you need to get rid of it eventually)and it's fragility certainly isn't a plus.
This is totally false! Johns Hopkins issued an internal memo was saying that this rumor is false. You will not get cancer from reusing water bottles. It does not unleash toxins. If I can find the e-mail I will repost it later
As I stated above this is totally false!
The link I am posting is legit coming from
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. See link below.
http://www.jhsph.edu/publichealthnews/articles/halden_dioxins.html
Thanks Becky for the link. It is very informative, but he doesn't say it is totally false. You can be contaminated from bottled water, but not necessarily by drinking it.
"First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are drinking rather than the container it’s coming from. Many people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water.
Having said this, there is another group of chemicals, called phthalates that are sometimes added to plastics to make them flexible and less brittle. Phthalates are environmental contaminants that can exhibit hormone-like behavior by acting as endocrine disruptors in humans and animals. If you heat up plastics, you could increase the leaching of phthalates from the containers into water and food."
inventorspot.com/blog/gloriacampos
Hey Biters,
Thanks for your comments. It *is* good to hear all sides on a debate. We've all used plastic bottles, and chances are, we're not going to get cancer as a result. However, if there are better alternatives, why not go for them? (SF Biters have a bit of a headstart - in San Francisco, bisphenol-A is not allowed in certain products such as kids' toys.)
If you’re interested in more info, here are a few additional resources on the Bisphenol-A issue:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070416095128.htm
http://www.wwf.org.uk/news/n_0000000145.asp
http://www.ewg.org/reports/bisphenola/
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/114/bpa
Regarding your cocktail factoid: koala's are NOT bears. Sorry, I'm a biology major and I'm anal about using the right words for things.
Personally, I am not switching from bottled water because of quality or worry of the plastic leaking into my drinking water. Those are concerns but my primary concerns are the expense and the waste stream that is created. Even if the bottles are recycled, plastic doesn't recycle 100% like glass or metal does so it just makes sense to me to eliminate as much plastic consumption as possible. Even when shopping, I will attempt to purchase everything in glass jars and bottles over plastic, even if it costs more. Just to eliminate a waste stream. My personal goal is to generate under 30 lbs of landfill waste per week for my family of 5, 4 cats and a dog. Everything else must be recycled or reused.
Just wanted to say thanks for the shout-out to the evangelicals - it's true, many are now very concerned about the environment. Although I don't personally identify as one, my friends at my evangelical school are very concerned about being more green and many are using reusable bottles (all Nalgene, but one step at a time!). So when you say you look like "crazy evangelicals" with your matching bottles, I can only assume you mean to compliment that group's environmental awareness...right??
Please take the time to read the following link. The scare concerning Polycarbonate and Bisphenol-A in reuseable water bottles is simply the media pushing the fear button once again. If you want the facts, please check this out... http://www.bisphenol-a.org/human/polyplastics.html
Even San Francisco has backed off on their ban (noted above) of the material since they have taken the time to properly educate themselves.
While there is controversy around the plastic resin-liner of aluminum bottles as well as the aluminum itself, why not just be safe and use stainless steel - i love my kleen canteen!
Sigg...NOT made in China. And safe as safe can get. Kleen Kanteen made in China and with all the hullabaloo going around about their low safety standards, we got Sigg. We also use Nalgene, did our research and believe that the amount of bpa leached in nominal.
Klean Kanteen is the way to go! My family (all 4 of us) use these stainless steel bottles every day- at the gym, on the road and at home. We fill it up with water purified with brita filter at home. These bottles are available at www.healthegoods.com for under $14.00.
So, I use plastic water bottles every day - multiple times a day in fact, so now I'm interested in switching from that habit, but how do you suggest I get water? My tap water is terrible, so should I filter it? Or if I buy plastic gallons of water, am I still at risk of consuming the toxins? Will the change in buying in gallons make a difference in my waste?
Go Kleen Kanteen!!!!
This whole debate about the safety of plastic bottles per se doesn't distinguish between TYPES of plastic bottles or between single use bottles and other size bottles. I spent some time yesterday reviewing the plastic bottles routinely used (and reused) in our house and found only PETE #1 plastic used to hold edible liquids, water and other liquids such as juice. This is not the type of plastic bottle warned of and a more specific, less over-arching "BITE" would have been more useful.
I have been using Ocean Spray bottles for our emergency water supply, given the large volume we are supposed to store here in earthquake and fire country. Glass wouldn't last through an earthquake, and the other options are way too expensive for large quantities. As far as I have been able to tell, the primary safety issue relates to the cleanliness of these bottles before reuse.
If you go to your local health food store, you will probably find water bottles made out of corn plastic. Much safer. And, you can reuse them! Double score!
No one is mentioning the damage that is done to our natural resources by drinking any form of pre-bottled water. Bottling companies have the potential to drain aquifers, a large percentage of H2O bottles are not recycled and end up in landfills, the fuel spent shipping these bottles, etc...
Check out link below. It's not just the potential leaching that's causing issues. And how come there are no public drinking fountains anymore? At least not in the midwest. We used to have them every so often throughout town. At beaches and the likes. When there were public fountains with good, clean, regulated city water, we didn't have to worry about bringing our own!
Check out site below for info. on some of the damages of bottling water.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=11068&channel=0
In today's (9/6/07) tip, we were advised to "leach toxins" when going from refrigerator to microwave and back. How does one "leach toxins"?
Scary article about the environmental impact of bottled water:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-message-in-a-bottle.html
Nothing new, just well-researched and a better reason to drink tap water!
Just a quick note regarding the http://www.bisphenol-a.org website: although it appears from the address that this is a website seeking to "educate" the public regarding the allegedly unfounded fears surrounding BPA, a quick examination reveals that such website has been crafted by none other than "the American Chemistry Council® ("ACC"), which represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry, including significant business groups such as the Plastics Division and the Chlorine Chemistry Division." (click on "terms and conditions of use")It's always good to hear both sides of the issue; however, the source behind the opposing information will certainly influence advice/recommendations. Take, for example, the fact that the website authors actually interpret studies, rather than just report the findings. The organization then reports its conclusion based on its own interpretation. In my opinion, the website is highly suspect.
Next, the John Hopkins letter only involves an effort to dispell a suspected John Hopkins email hoax regarding the freezing of water bottles. It does not actually discuss the heating of plastic bottles (the time when BPA is actually released). Another red herring.
Certainly, you won't die tomorrow from using plastic nalgene bottles, but why increase the toxic load on your body? Even the American Chemistry Council (at http://www.bisphenol-a.org/) admits that BPA actually leaches from plastic bottles, but they claim that the low levels are not actually harmful... I also remember a time when it was claimed that DDT was completely safe. Who made that claim? The manufacturers.
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Annie | July 12, 2007 at 05:04 AM