Refilling Plastic Water Bottle Not Safe

There was a special television program on a while back (on PBS I believe) about a guy who was trying to be more eco-friendly by using the same plastic water bottle over and over. I think he had clocked in a year+ of using the same water bottle. It seems like a better idea than buying new water bottles, but in actuality it’s not a very green or healthy act.

KOR One Hydration Vessels (shown above)

A recent piece from my local news site features this idea of reusing a disposable plastic water bottle over and over and the advice came down hard on the side of don’t do it. An expert from the The Oregon Environmental Council noted that there are two major reasons why you should not reuse disposable single use water bottles – bacteria and polyethylene terephthalate.

Those disposable water bottles are tough to clean properly and add to that all the ridges and indentations and you’re not really going to get the water bottle clean. You shouldn’t put disposable water bottles in the dishwasher and your hand can fit inside one, so bacteria is a likely problem. Secondly, these water bottles are made from polyethylene terephthalate which can degrade and leach phthalates into your once clean drinking water. Phthalates can disrupt your hormones and the expert from the The Oregon Environmental Council further notes that phthalates have been linked to various health problems, “Including women giving birth to boys with small genitalia and undescended testes.”

If you refill a water bottle once or twice it surely won’t kill you, but the healthier and greener choice is to choose a reusable bottle made from eco-friendly, non-toxic materials. I personally LOVE my Klean Kanteen, but there are plenty of other amazing reusable water bottle choices out there – why use plastic? Listed below are some non-toxic, BPA, reusable water bottle options…

• KOR One Hydration Vessels
• US Canteen
• FOF Bottles Stainless Steel Water Bottles
• CamelBak Better Bottles
• Love Bottle Reusable Glass Water Bottle
• REI Bullet Bottle
• EarthLust