Reusable water bottles are one of the best ways to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce waste, and keep the planet clean. It’s also better for you, reducing your exposure to chemicals from plastic.
In this blog, we’ll talk about why single use bottles are a bad idea, how a reusable bottle can fit into your lifestyle, and what kind bottle to choose for your needs.
The “Scam” of Bottled Water
First, let’s start with the “scam” of bottled water.
When you buy a bottle of water, you expect that it’s somehow special compared to the water that comes out of your tap.
Surprisingly, most bottled water sold is just tap water. If you read the labels, you’ll see that often the source is “municipal water source.” This means that it’s water that came from some city’s or town’s water supply. It’s really nothing special.
When you buy “spring water”, it’s the same thing, except that the bottling company has processed it themselves. But water that hasn’t been processed may harbor the bacteria, fungi, and algae that might have been in the spring itself.
In short, you’re simply paying someone to turn the tap for you and put the water in a bottle. Moreover, the water must be shipped to you, so the carbon footprint is massive compared to simply drinking the water from your tap.
The Impact of Water Bottles
There are millions of pollutants in the world. Some, like pesticides, are harder for us to walk away from since they help us grow more foods. But things like plastic bags, bottles, and straws, are consumer items we simply don’t need.
Single-use water bottles are wasteful, last for 1,000 years, and supply something we can get from any tap.
How a Reusable Water Bottle Fits Your Active Lifestyle
There are a variety of reasons, beyond the wastefulness of plastic bottles, for you to choose a reusable one.
#1: Better insulation – Reusable water bottles are thicker and often have an insulating wrap around them, like the Kool8. This helps to keep the water inside colder longer. The Kool8 is designed for hot liquids as well.
Keeping our beverages hot or cold prevents us from dumping it out and grabbing another bottle.
#2: They’re tougher – Stainless steel, high-quality glass, and even reusable plastic water bottles will last a lot longer than a single use bottle. That single use bottle will crack if it gets stepped on, bangs against something, or gets crushed.
If you’re camping, rafting, or hiking, the right reusable water bottle will last for years. For example, a stainless-steel bottle can take a beating and still function just fine as a water bottle.
#3: You only need one – As long as you have a clean water source, or one that you can sterilize, you only have to carry a single reusable bottle.
How many times have you lugged a case of disposable water bottles to a campsite? If you know where there is potable water, you only need the one reusable bottle. It’s a lot less work and leaves room for more important things, like the fixings for ‘smores!
#4: Flavor it – You can put loose tea into a reusable bottle and give your water flavor. While you can do this with a single-use bottle as well, once you break the seal, the bottle is likely to leak. Since a stainless-steel reusable bottle is designed to stay sealed, you won’t end up with water dripping all over you.
Learn more about using loose teas by reading our blog, Tea Drinker Paradise: Quick guide to enjoying loose Tea like a Pro.
#5: Won’t leach chemicals – Plastic bottles leach out chemicals when they’re allowed to warm up. Food grade stainless steel is designed to be resistant to corrosion and to not leach chemicals. While you don’t want to put a strong acid in stainless steel for a long time, it won’t be a problem for the time you’re drinking from it.
Simply read the manufacturer’s instructions for what you can and can’t use your bottle for. No matter what you choose, you won’t have a bottle that releases harmful chemicals just because it sat in the sun.
#6: Won’t retain flavors – Plastic is porous. It retains the flavors that you put in it.
A high-quality water bottle, like the Kool-8 insulated stainless-steel bottle, uses 18/8 stainless steel that doesn’t retain any of the flavors you’ve used in it before.
Shop for the highest quality stainless-steel water bottle with Kool8