Water Bottles and Minimizing Microplastics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking fountains are plastic free

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

They are everywhere in Central park.

[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.

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.

What do you think the bulk foods bins are made out of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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?"

It doesn’t have to be ultraprocessed. All the meat in stores has plastic wrap touching it, or did at some point prior to you buying it. Cheese comes wrapped in plastic, cans are lined with plastic, grains have been stored in plastic. Bulk food items are stored in plastic bins. The flour in the nice wholesome bakery you buy your bread is stored in giant plastic bins. Nearly all food items with the exception of some loose fruits and vegetables have come into contact with plastics or are packaged in plastic at some point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My teen doesn’t go anywhere without their water bottle. I’d love to find a stainless steel water bottle with a chug cap that is not plastic. Any suggestions?

Kleen kanteen used to sell them REI

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Drinking fountains are plastic free

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

As far as I know every DCPS school has them and they have the tall filtered water tap for bottles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?"

It doesn’t have to be ultraprocessed. All the meat in stores has plastic wrap touching it, or did at some point prior to you buying it. Cheese comes wrapped in plastic, cans are lined with plastic, grains have been stored in plastic. Bulk food items are stored in plastic bins. The flour in the nice wholesome bakery you buy your bread is stored in giant plastic bins. Nearly all food items with the exception of some loose fruits and vegetables have come into contact with plastics or are packaged in plastic at some point.

You realize that no one is claiming you can completely avoid plastic, right? It is a conversation about minimizing exposure. A water bottle is a good place to be mindful since you use it all day, every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?"

It doesn’t have to be ultraprocessed. All the meat in stores has plastic wrap touching it, or did at some point prior to you buying it. Cheese comes wrapped in plastic, cans are lined with plastic, grains have been stored in plastic. Bulk food items are stored in plastic bins. The flour in the nice wholesome bakery you buy your bread is stored in giant plastic bins. Nearly all food items with the exception of some loose fruits and vegetables have come into contact with plastics or are packaged in plastic at some point.

You realize that no one is claiming you can completely avoid plastic, right? It is a conversation about minimizing exposure. A water bottle is a good place to be mindful since you use it all day, every day.

OP is already not using a plastic water bottle. She is searching for a bottle that also does not contain any plastic in the cap. That is pretty obscure.

[Anonymous]

The comments here are so rude!

We have Owala with a koala stainless straw. That minimizes plastic (except the small mouthpiece.

You could get away from plastic just by drinking from the open bottle, though. Also, not all plastics are the same - it’s worth trying to see what is the least bad.

[Anonymous]

Just found stainless lids on Klean Kanteen's site -- No plastic. They fit their classic style of narrow mouth bottles. Getting one for myself and for my kid. Thanks for brining this up, OP. Wouldn't have thought to look otherwise.

https://www.kleankanteen.com/collections/caps/products/stainless-unibody-bamboo-cap

https://www.kleankanteen.com/collections/caps/products/stainless-loop-cap

[Anonymous]

Mason jar. lol