Water Bottles and Minimizing Microplastics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just give up. Seriously. Plastics are all around and in everything

Stop acting like it’s so hard to take an extra 5 min before buying things.

Ok, but it won’t make a difference. Plastic is in chewing gum, your teens’ Starbucks/boba cups, any takeaway food you get, just about all grocery store items, deli, meat packaging have some element of plastic. Restaurants and any where you are buying prepared foods, even high end, all use plastic bulk containers for packaging and use various plastics for cutting boards and food storage. So yeah, worrying about the plastic top to a metal water bottle is dumb and pointless.

This is such a STRANGE argument. There are many ways to die, so don't worry about wearing a seatbelt!

There are things you can control and things you can't. You can buy quality products for your kids that at least don't make things worse. The sense that a problem is overwhelming doesn't mean you shouldn't bother doing anything.

Whatever soothes your anxiety.

[Anonymous]

Owala?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just give up. Seriously. Plastics are all around and in everything

Stop acting like it’s so hard to take an extra 5 min before buying things.

Ok, but it won’t make a difference. Plastic is in chewing gum, your teens’ Starbucks/boba cups, any takeaway food you get, just about all grocery store items, deli, meat packaging have some element of plastic. Restaurants and any where you are buying prepared foods, even high end, all use plastic bulk containers for packaging and use various plastics for cutting boards and food storage. So yeah, worrying about the plastic top to a metal water bottle is dumb and pointless.

This is such a STRANGE argument. There are many ways to die, so don't worry about wearing a seatbelt!

There are things you can control and things you can't. You can buy quality products for your kids that at least don't make things worse. The sense that a problem is overwhelming doesn't mean you shouldn't bother doing anything.

Whatever soothes your anxiety.

Whatever makes you feel superior.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thank you to the people who provided helpful responses. To the others who seem miffed that I’m worrying about plastics at all, I understand that plastic is everywhere. That’s exactly the point and why I’m trying to minimize the amount my kid is ingesting, especially given the rise in cancer among young adults:

https://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2025/03/microplastics-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just give up. Seriously. Plastics are all around and in everything

Stop acting like it’s so hard to take an extra 5 min before buying things.

Ok, but it won’t make a difference. Plastic is in chewing gum, your teens’ Starbucks/boba cups, any takeaway food you get, just about all grocery store items, deli, meat packaging have some element of plastic. Restaurants and any where you are buying prepared foods, even high end, all use plastic bulk containers for packaging and use various plastics for cutting boards and food storage. So yeah, worrying about the plastic top to a metal water bottle is dumb and pointless.

This is such a STRANGE argument. There are many ways to die, so don't worry about wearing a seatbelt!

There are things you can control and things you can't. You can buy quality products for your kids that at least don't make things worse. The sense that a problem is overwhelming doesn't mean you shouldn't bother doing anything.

OP is already using a stainless steel water bottle. She is specifically looking for one that does not contain plastic in the CAP. If that is a worry you have that you feel compelled to post about, you clearly have a problem free life. You seriously think a plastic cap is going to move the needle on your health?

And you must have an extra *super* problem free life if your biggest problem is that you are annoyed by people who are seeking to minimize plastic.

Oh I think PP has many problems in her life. Look at how she creates her own problems, getting annoyed with someone just for wanting to reduce microplastics! Then she can’t find resolution.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you to the people who provided helpful responses. To the others who seem miffed that I’m worrying about plastics at all, I understand that plastic is everywhere. That’s exactly the point and why I’m trying to minimize the amount my kid is ingesting, especially given the rise in cancer among young adults:

https://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2025/03/microplastics-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

Maybe have your teen make fewer trips to Starbucks. That would move the needle a lot more in reducing microplastics than worrying about the CAP of the water bottle.

[Anonymous]

I have a steel bottle with a plastic cap. I don’t drink through the cap and just open the full top.

Teen DS doesn’t like the weight of the steel bottles, insists on plastic. 👎 Anyway, I have other things I’m on him about, so for this, I just make sure we hand wash and don’t leave it in the car. Hopefully he will go back to using steel at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you to the people who provided helpful responses. To the others who seem miffed that I’m worrying about plastics at all, I understand that plastic is everywhere. That’s exactly the point and why I’m trying to minimize the amount my kid is ingesting, especially given the rise in cancer among young adults:

https://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2025/03/microplastics-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

Maybe have your teen make fewer trips to Starbucks. That would move the needle a lot more in reducing microplastics than worrying about the CAP of the water bottle.

What a rude and strange response. Not all kids frequent Starbucks. Or have the extra money to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thank you to the people who provided helpful responses. To the others who seem miffed that I’m worrying about plastics at all, I understand that plastic is everywhere. That’s exactly the point and why I’m trying to minimize the amount my kid is ingesting, especially given the rise in cancer among young adults:

https://blog.dana-farber.org/insight/2025/03/microplastics-and-cancer-what-you-need-to-know/

Maybe have your teen make fewer trips to Starbucks. That would move the needle a lot more in reducing microplastics than worrying about the CAP of the water bottle.

Stfu Karen

[Anonymous]

We are all going to die frim this and sun tan lotion

[Anonymous]

Drinking fountains are plastic free

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Drinking fountains are plastic free

Those still exist? Kinda like pay phone booths, hard to find anymore.

[Anonymous]

Black+Blum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just give up. Seriously. Plastics are all around and in everything

SUCH a weird attitude.

Imagine if people had felt this way about lead in pipes.

It's fine to feel overwhelmed by the problem and be unsure of how you personally can solve it—and it's realistic to acknowledge that you can't solve it, that there are microplastics coming from a lot of different sources... but I don't understand why, when you do have a choice, and it's pretty easy to make, to find an option that doesn't have microplastics, you wouldn't take it.

To the OP, my understanding is that the issue over water bottles is not microplastics, but BPA. BPA-free bottles tend to be more brittle and break more, but there are options, like Nalgene, which have lower levels (under the legal limit) of BPA and are sturdy. Also, BPA is released when the plastic is exposed to heat or stress, so depending on the care and handling of the bottle, even a plastic bottle with BPA could be safe.

I think ordering a sturdy, well-insulated bottle from a maker that there is information about the makeup of their product (like Nalgene or Camelbak) and that you take care of (handwash) is probably the best option.

+1 Do you feed your kids nothing but ultraprocessed foods because they're "around and in everything?"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just give up. Seriously. Plastics are all around and in everything

Stop acting like it’s so hard to take an extra 5 min before buying things.

Ok, but it won’t make a difference. Plastic is in chewing gum, your teens’ Starbucks/boba cups, any takeaway food you get, just about all grocery store items, deli, meat packaging have some element of plastic. Restaurants and any where you are buying prepared foods, even high end, all use plastic bulk containers for packaging and use various plastics for cutting boards and food storage. So yeah, worrying about the plastic top to a metal water bottle is dumb and pointless.

I try not to buy packaging in plastic and styrofoam, purchase from bulk food bins when I can. I also rely order carry-out and don't do Starbucks. I make my kids bring back their boba cups to the boba place AND straws if they are getting boba.
I know it's not much but at least I'm not unnecessarily adding to the plastics pile.
I do feel it is pointless when I go to the emergency room and see the amount of plastic waste just to bandage someone. Believe me, hospitals are not recycling and they use so much more plastic than the average person.
But I have a choice at the grocery store and I choose products and stores that do not use plastic bags as much as possible.