Are you still buying water in plastic bottles ? Really ?

[Stash]

Good thread.

Bottled water is monitored by the FDA whereas tap water is monitored by the EPA. That in and of itself does not necessarily make one better than the other but bottled water has much less stringent quality requirements than tap water does. You take more chances with bottled water quality.

Third option. My tap water comes from my well so it's monitored by me.

 

[Chip]

Supposedly, bacteria can grow a lot easier in the caps of traditional water & gatorade bottles than in Nalgene bottles. At least that's what I've read a few times...not sure if I believe it or not.

Studies funded by the disposable water bottle industry, probably ! What's reusable is debatable and up to the individual, I guess. Why are Nalgene or Rubbermade sports bottles able to be washed and reused and Gatoraid and Dasani bottles aren't ? I wash and reuse Chinese food to-go containers, zip lock bags, plastic utensils, most anything really, until it falls apart, then it gets recycled. I don't believe I'm getting more BPA from a reused Gatoraid bottle or zip lock bag than any other source, and probably less than when those items were new.

FWIW: My unscientific study based on warm water and dish soap washing, rinsing and drying of zip lock bags, water bottles and to-go containers for the last 20 years has resulted in no apparent mold or bacteria growth and no known ill health effects. YRMV.

 

[griffin]

Why are Nalgene or Rubbermade sports bottles able to be washed and reused and Gatoraid and Dasani bottles aren't ?

Guessing - the type/thickness of materials used? Companies selling bottled water and other beverages have little incentive invest in containers that stand up to repeated use, but do have a cost incentive to use less material and reduce the total weight of the containers as way to minimize shipping costs.

YMMV, but on the occasions I have re-used water or gatorade bottles, they haven't lasted that long.

 

[Chip]

I've got Dasani and Gatoraid bottles that I've washed and reused probably 100 times. Seriously. Those freakin Gatoraid bottles never deteriorate. The water bottles eventually get beat up and lose their "new" look.

 

[DougPaul]

I don't believe I'm getting more BPA from a reused Gatoraid bottle or zip lock bag than any other source, and probably less than when those items were new.

Some of the studies about BPA from polycarbonate bottles found increased BPA if one put hot water in the bottles. IIRC, the wording was ambiguous with respect to whether past hot water exposure affected current cold water use of the bottles.

FWIW: My unscientific study based on warm water and dish soap washing, rinsing and drying of zip lock bags, water bottles and to-go containers for the last 20 years has resulted in no apparent mold or bacteria growth and no known ill health effects. YRMV.

I wash and reuse 24 oz soda bottles as summer water bottles, also with no apparent problems. The effects of BPA could be subtle.

IIRC, Consumers Reports stated that they assumed the bottles would be used by and cared for by teenage boys (possibly the least careful users that one could find...) in their studies. I wouldn't be surprised if any bottle used by that group would contain some bacteria.

Of course, simply drinking from a bottle injects some oral and possibly some skin bacteria into it...

Doug

 

[Little Rickie]

Fiji Water is a brand sourced, bottled and shipped from the Fiji Islands (hence, the name).

True but the bottles don't roll of the car seat.

 

[DougPaul]

Guessing - the type/thickness of materials used? Companies selling bottled water and other beverages have little incentive invest in containers that stand up to repeated use, but do have a cost incentive to use less material and reduce the total weight of the containers as way to minimize shipping costs.

YMMV, but on the occasions I have re-used water or gatorade bottles, they haven't lasted that long.

I have found bottled water bottles to be too fragile to hold up in my back. Soda bottles (which have to be strong enough to hold pressure) do much better. They are made from the same type of plastic, PETE (recycling #1).

Doug

 

[Little Rickie]

Chip! A new pool! I'm still working on my bike commuting.

I buy tonic water in the bottles so I can use them hiking and camping. I'm working on a new set now. Ya gotta love vodka tonics to make this work.

 

[Mike P.]

Newer water bottles are thinner than a couple of years ago. (less material, billing themselves as green + lower material cost = happy stockholders)

Hand washing better than washing in a dishwasher as far as temp. They makes bottles that are BPA free so why risk it. As usual, science community doing many studies, among them BPA on reproduction. (I belive BPA is accumulated) What does a 18-40 years of trace ingestion of BPA mean to your off-spring?

Can & bottle industy have studies (paid for by them) saying it's not an issue. (Same groups doing the studies back in the 60-80's for big tobacco?)

Questions on one of the chemicals used for teflon also. Since BPA is used for cans used for canned foods, (big help for food borne illnesses of canned food), and you have frozen & fresh alternatives, why would you buy canned if an easy alternative is available.

 

[DougPaul]

Hand washing better than washing in a dishwasher as far as temp. They makes bottles that are BPA free so why risk it. As usual, science community doing many studies, among them BPA on reproduction. (I belive BPA is accumulated) What does a 18-40 years of trace ingestion of BPA mean to your off-spring?

From what I have read, BPA is not accumulated in humans. (There are claims that humans are much better at eliminating BPA than mice, so test results in mice may not apply to humans.)

That said, BPA is an endocrine disrupter and may have effects at extremely low doses.

Questions on one of the chemicals used for teflon also.

Teflon is basically the solid form of a poisonous gas--don't overheat (on a stove, or while machining it) or burn it. People have died from such causes as teflon dust on cigarettes.

Doug

 

[Little Rickie]

Newer water bottles are thinner than a couple of years ago.

The wide mouth tonic water bottles are the strongest and toughest. Tonic water bottles have more pressure to hold than regular pop bottles. Wash them once in a while and scrub the threads in the cap with an old tooth brush.

That said, BPA is an endocrine disrupter and may have effects at extremely low doses.

I find that it only affects my: spelling, grammer and sentence structure.

 

[brianW]

It's pretty amazing that our society has reached a point where the effort necessary to extract oil from the ground, ship it to a refinery, turn it to plastic, shape it appropriately, truck it to a store, buy it and bring it home is considered to be less effort than what it takes to just wash the spoon when you're done with it.

This I posted on FB a few days back. I guess instead of "spoon" you could insert water bottle.

 

[Little Rickie]

It's all about economics. My water bottle only costs me $.05

 

[hikerbrian]

People have died from such causes as teflon dust on cigarettes.

Doug

Huh??? Think this might be an old wive's tale, Doug.

Ingested Teflon (from chipped pans, etc.) will pass through one's system without being absorbed. It is essentially inert under physiological conditions (i.e. those found in the body). Heating Teflon very hot (above 500 F) will cause it to slowly decompose into various gaseous materials that prove no more toxic than the materials emitted from cooking oil heated to 500 F. Also, Teflon is not simply solid tetrafluoroethylene - a poisonous gas. It is polymerized tetrafluoroethylene, which is something quite different. The properties of Teflon are very, very different from tetrafluoroethylene. You probably already know this, but I just want to clarify for others.

(No, I am not affiliated with Dupont, but I do have a pretty good understanding of chemistry and toxicology)

[/thread hi-jacking]

 

[DougPaul]

Huh??? Think this might be an old wive's tale, Doug.

Ingested Teflon (from chipped pans, etc.) will pass through one's system without being absorbed. It is essentially inert under physiological conditions (i.e. those found in the body). Heating Teflon very hot (above 500 F) will cause it to slowly decompose into various gaseous materials that prove no more toxic than the materials emitted from cooking oil heated to 500 F. Also, Teflon is not simply solid tetrafluoroethylene - a poisonous gas. It is polymerized tetrafluoroethylene, which is something quite different. The properties of Teflon are very, very different from tetrafluoroethylene. You probably already know this, but I just want to clarify for others.

It would appear that you are correct--the gases emitted by overheated Teflon can be lethal to birds, but only cause flu-like symptoms in humans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teflon

I had to machine some Teflon ~40 years ago and was given the dire warnings about the risks of overheating it. It would appear that their warnings were a bit excessive...

Doug

 

[Neil]

Bottled water is for those who would spend money to insulate themselves from the water table pollution caused by mining, agriculture and what the heck, frak drilling. Pity they are wasting such cash when one considers that 100,000 metric tons (ie. 220 million pounds) of lead are released into the atmosphere annually. (mining, smelting, industry). The removal of lead from gasoline in 1986 coincided with an immediate drop in lead levels of Americans by 80%. But, due to the longevity of lead (ie. forever), all of us alive, right now, have 825 times as much lead in our bodies than people did a century ago.

Back to bottled water: it should be illegal.

In the US alone 38,000,000 (or 3.8 times 10 to the 7th) plastic bottle are thrown out every.......

who has the correct unit of time?


A quick and easy way to reduce one's ecological footprint would be to use birth control and to become a vegetarian.

 

[brianW]

Penn and Tellers take on bottled water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc

 

[Neil]

Penn and Tellers take on bottled water.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPAjUvvnIc

I never Youtube because the carbon footprint is way too big for the benefit derived.

In fact, one Google search releases no less than 6 grams of carbon into the atmosphere. You are reading this post? There goes another 3 grams.

 

[Little Rickie]

Back to bottled water: it should be illegal.

In the US alone 38,000,000 (or 3.8 times 10 to the 7th) plastic bottle are thrown out every.......
.

I thought they were turned into running shoes and fleece?

I wonder what the tone of this string would be if this were a poll about beer & wine bottles?

A quick and easy way to reduce one's ecological footprint would be to use birth control and to become a vegetarian

They would have to stop packaging the stuff in plastic.

 

[Stash]

A quick and easy way to reduce one's ecological footprint would be to use birth control and to become a vegetarian.

Or contact Dr. K.???