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we should start calling bottled water "plastic water"

by smhost 7y ago

cordite 7y ago
Is microplastics what give cheap water bottles that particular off-flavor?
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- retpirato 7y ago
  Maybe it depends on the brand. To me Aquafina tastes like I filled a bottle with toilet water & drank it.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- peteretep 7y ago
  I’d wild-ass guess that it’s using a cheaper water treatment? If you don’t want your water going green on the shelves, you need _some_ solution, and I’m guessing a dab of chlorine or similar both achieves that and makes the water taste weird.
- nosianu2 7y ago
  Not necessarily. I doubt you could taste particles, unless they are truly molecule-sized nano to be able to bind to taste receptors? I think you need molecules. Which plastic bottles, depending on the exact kind of plastic and how it was manufactured, may have plenty of - it's not just the ideal "plastic" material, the carbon chains, but plenty of other kinds of molecules dissolved in between. In text books the different kinds of plastic are always represented with the main molecule - but not just is there no such thing as a 100% pure substance in a real-world manufacturing process, in addition all kinds of other molecules are added deliberately - temporarily during a manufacturing step or to become part of the final product - to modify the physical properties of the substance. So even the same kind of plastic can contain very different kinds of other substances depending on who made it when and where. https://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134196209/study-most-plastics-leach-hormone-like-chemicals https://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134196209/study-most-plastics... https://www.thoughtco.com/reusing-plastic-bottles-serious-health-hazards-1204028 https://www.thoughtco.com/reusing-plastic-bottles-serious-he...
mncharity 7y ago
> we should start calling bottled water "plastic water" Might that be surprisingly effective as way to reduce bottled water use? As a drop-in replacement for the phrase "bottled water", it meme-ishly supports interpersonal and self discouragement of use: "Here's your plastic water dear."; "Don't forget to buy my plastic water.". The "plasticness" of bottles is highly salient when opening, handling, and trashing them, and is associated with the pollution. Imagine an ad with someone opening a bottle, with putting-down-the-cap noise, making that "crunching" bottle noise, drinking from and looking at a bottle, and recycling it, all while describing plastic "dust" and its health and ecosystem issues. So that bottle handling becomes a memory trigger for the issues and an associate visceral "yuck". Nifty idea.
- Roritharr 7y ago
  I already call it that way, but for different reasons. My wife only drinks carbonated bottled water as she's a germaphobe and dislikes home-carbonators (I've tried everything...), but once she became pregnant I had to start dragging her bottles up to our apartment. I became very resentful of the fact that I had to either buy and drag glass or plastic bottles up to our flat only to bring them back to the store empty. So I started calling it plastic water as a minor display of rebellion. She doesn't care though. :(
  - mfgs 7y ago
    All that carbonic acid can't be great for her teeth.

we should start calling bottled water "plastic water"

by smhost 7y ago

we should start calling bottled water "plastic water"

cordite 7y ago

Is microplastics what give cheap water bottles that particular off-flavor?

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
retpirato 7y ago
Maybe it depends on the brand. To me Aquafina tastes like I filled a bottle with toilet water & drank it.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
peteretep 7y ago
I’d wild-ass guess that it’s using a cheaper water treatment? If you don’t want your water going green on the shelves, you need _some_ solution, and I’m guessing a dab of chlorine or similar both achieves that and makes the water taste weird.
nosianu2 7y ago
Not necessarily. I doubt you could taste particles, unless they are truly molecule-sized nano to be able to bind to taste receptors? I think you need molecules. Which plastic bottles, depending on the exact kind of plastic and how it was manufactured, may have plenty of - it's not just the ideal "plastic" material, the carbon chains, but plenty of other kinds of molecules dissolved in between. In text books the different kinds of plastic are always represented with the main molecule - but not just is there no such thing as a 100% pure substance in a real-world manufacturing process, in addition all kinds of other molecules are added deliberately - temporarily during a manufacturing step or to become part of the final product - to modify the physical properties of the substance. So even the same kind of plastic can contain very different kinds of other substances depending on who made it when and where. https://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134196209/study-most-plastics-leach-hormone-like-chemicals https://www.npr.org/2011/03/02/134196209/study-most-plastics... https://www.thoughtco.com/reusing-plastic-bottles-serious-health-hazards-1204028 https://www.thoughtco.com/reusing-plastic-bottles-serious-he...

mncharity 7y ago

> we should start calling bottled water "plastic water" Might that be surprisingly effective as way to reduce bottled water use? As a drop-in replacement for the phrase "bottled water", it meme-ishly supports interpersonal and self discouragement of use: "Here's your plastic water dear."; "Don't forget to buy my plastic water.". The "plasticness" of bottles is highly salient when opening, handling, and trashing them, and is associated with the pollution. Imagine an ad with someone opening a bottle, with putting-down-the-cap noise, making that "crunching" bottle noise, drinking from and looking at a bottle, and recycling it, all while describing plastic "dust" and its health and ecosystem issues. So that bottle handling becomes a memory trigger for the issues and an associate visceral "yuck". Nifty idea.

Roritharr 7y ago
I already call it that way, but for different reasons. My wife only drinks carbonated bottled water as she's a germaphobe and dislikes home-carbonators (I've tried everything...), but once she became pregnant I had to start dragging her bottles up to our apartment. I became very resentful of the fact that I had to either buy and drag glass or plastic bottles up to our flat only to bring them back to the store empty. So I started calling it plastic water as a minor display of rebellion. She doesn't care though. :(
- mfgs 7y ago
  All that carbonic acid can't be great for her teeth.