Waterbottle Wariness

There is a lot of hoopla out there about waterbottles for a variety of reasons. The cities of Portland, Or and Vancouver, Wa for example have banned waterbottles from city council meetings citing the wastefulness of it. They are not the only ones concerned about the amount of waste all of these 'single use' bottles create. The following information is from the Container Recycling Institute:

• Approximately 9 out of 10 waterbottles end up in landfills, never to be recycled ( 30 million bottles per day )
• The amount of petroleum product it takes to manufacture enough bottles to supply us with water is around 1.5 million barrels of oil per year. This is enough oil to generate electricity for 250,000 homes for one year, or enough fuel for 100,000 cars per year.
• 22 million tons of bottled water is shipped from the US to foreign countries per year

However, just making sure that you are recycling these bottles is not the complete answer. Over time, plastic looses it's flexibility and ability to be reproduced into another product. Heavy amounts of dyes and pigments ( like Dasani bottles ) make it difficult for the plastic to be recycled.The metals and chemicals added to plastic to make it stable are also dangerous for us.

So, if the best choice is to not purchase these bottles to begin with, what are we supposed to do? Purchase softer plastic, glass or metal waterbottles. Look for bottles that do not smell 'plastic-y' and are not made of PET ( it will be stamped on the bottom of the bottle ). These bottles are potentially dangerous for children, pregnant and nursing moms and those with developing endocrine systems. Some research even links this chemical ( along with bisphenol -A BPA as you may have seen it ) to breast cancer and chromasomal deficiencies in human eggs ( research published in the 4/2003 issue of Current Biology ). Also look for the label on the bottom of the bottle denoting the type of plastic it is made of. Preferable labels are #2 HDPE and #4 LDPE for recycling purposes and to avoid leaching of chemicals. These plastics tend to be the cloudier kind...think milk jugs and Sunny D containers.

All in all, if you are going to carry a waterbottle, be sure to use a good plastic and wash it everyday ( by hand is best ) to avoid the potential downfalls of portable beverages.