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I’ve had a lot of water bottles over the years. This is quite an unpopular take, but I believe PET to be lesser of all evils. I’ve spent a lot of money on nume

I’ve had a lot of water bottles over the years. This is quite an unpopular take, but I believe PET to be lesser of all evils. I’ve spent a lot of money on numerous steel and plastic water bottles. They all break and good luck recycling them. Most likely they end up in landfill. PET bottles use less raw resources, are cheap, lightweight, extremely durable, and when they reach end of life they’re easier to “recycle” (downcycle is probably more accurate). Modern PET bottles shouldn’t leach into your water. You can at minimum use them until the expiry date on the bottle. If you’re concerned about leaching, don’t take my word and do your own research.

literalAardvark 3y ago
Steel is mostly recycled. Pet is very much not. Pet does leach (as microplastic). No point in buying plastic bottles unless they're pla. Just reuse a water/soda bottle you bought on a whim.
- hgomersall 3y ago
  I read PET actually is recycled extensively. I mean, you need to recycle it, but it's economically viable to actually recycle it rather than just make it "someone else's problem".
  - literalAardvark 3y ago
    Iirc it gets downcycled, not recycled. You can't make bottles out of it anymore, it goes into textiles or something. And that's in the highly optimistic case in which it makes it to a recycling center, which doesn't happen for 80% of plastic.
- shortcake27 3y ago
  Steel is not recycled by consumers. You cannot put steel in a recycling bin. You _ may_ be able to take steel to a resource recovery centre. However if the travel uses oil or electricity that comes from coal, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended up being worse for the environment than a PET bottle. With regards to leaching, the FDA has declared PET bottles safe for repeated use.
  - literalAardvark 3y ago
    Electricity coming from coal is not something you address by using plastic bottles. There's almost nothing worse than forever plastics at this point in time. They're everywhere, they're toxic, and we don't know how to fix it. Steel is recycled as often as it's economically feasible to do. It's not hand selected by consumers because there's already a whole process for dealing with metals in general that's been in place for a hundred years. Which is ideal really, the less I have to select by hand the better. Here it's scavengers stripping it out of refuse (and everything that's not bolted to the ground, really). In the US it's probably put on a barge and stripped in Mexico or something, no idea. It's rarely thrown out though, as it's very expensive and very useful. The FDA is also cool with BPA, pfas, teflon, etc. Don't rely too much on it. PET is safe, ish. As i wrote: use it, avoid buying new. It does leach microplastic but those are everywhere so it's "safe", and by that I mean it's unavoidable "background pollution" these days, as there's microplastic even inside produce.
    - acuozzo 3y ago
      > They're everywhere, they're toxic, and we don't know how to fix it. True, but they're also good carbon sinks.
      - literalAardvark 3y ago
        So is grey goo, but can we please not do that?
    - shortcake27 3y ago
      > Electricity coming from coal is not something you address by using plastic bottles. That’s not my point and I think you’re deliberately misinterpreting it. > In the US it's probably put on a barge and stripped in Mexico or something, no idea. It's rarely thrown out though, as it's very expensive and very useful. This sounds like wishful thinking. Do you have any evidence to support this claim? “Don’t worry, just trash it and it’ll probably get sorted in Mexico” doesn’t inspire confidence.
anigbrowl 3y ago
How does a steel water bottle break
- bearbin 3y ago
  dent, crush, lid or seal failure (which can't be cheaply/practically made of steel)
  - kitkat_new 3y ago
    have been using this one for more than a decade now: https://www.wasser-aktuell.com/products/1-0l-trekkatanka%E2%84%A2-edelstahl-trinkflasche-mit-edelstahl-wave-verschluss https://www.wasser-aktuell.com/products/1-0l-trekkatanka%E2%... small dents, but no no issues with lid or seal
gessha 3y ago
I’ve been using a Zojirushi thermos as a water bottle and it has been with me for 6 years. There’s replacement parts on their website to get worn out pieces which is convenient.

literalAardvark 3y ago

Steel is mostly recycled. Pet is very much not. Pet does leach (as microplastic). No point in buying plastic bottles unless they're pla. Just reuse a water/soda bottle you bought on a whim.

hgomersall 3y ago
I read PET actually is recycled extensively. I mean, you need to recycle it, but it's economically viable to actually recycle it rather than just make it "someone else's problem".
- literalAardvark 3y ago
  Iirc it gets downcycled, not recycled. You can't make bottles out of it anymore, it goes into textiles or something. And that's in the highly optimistic case in which it makes it to a recycling center, which doesn't happen for 80% of plastic.
shortcake27 3y ago
Steel is not recycled by consumers. You cannot put steel in a recycling bin. You _ may_ be able to take steel to a resource recovery centre. However if the travel uses oil or electricity that comes from coal, I wouldn’t be surprised if this ended up being worse for the environment than a PET bottle. With regards to leaching, the FDA has declared PET bottles safe for repeated use.
- literalAardvark 3y ago
  Electricity coming from coal is not something you address by using plastic bottles. There's almost nothing worse than forever plastics at this point in time. They're everywhere, they're toxic, and we don't know how to fix it. Steel is recycled as often as it's economically feasible to do. It's not hand selected by consumers because there's already a whole process for dealing with metals in general that's been in place for a hundred years. Which is ideal really, the less I have to select by hand the better. Here it's scavengers stripping it out of refuse (and everything that's not bolted to the ground, really). In the US it's probably put on a barge and stripped in Mexico or something, no idea. It's rarely thrown out though, as it's very expensive and very useful. The FDA is also cool with BPA, pfas, teflon, etc. Don't rely too much on it. PET is safe, ish. As i wrote: use it, avoid buying new. It does leach microplastic but those are everywhere so it's "safe", and by that I mean it's unavoidable "background pollution" these days, as there's microplastic even inside produce.
  - acuozzo 3y ago
    > They're everywhere, they're toxic, and we don't know how to fix it. True, but they're also good carbon sinks.
    - literalAardvark 3y ago
      So is grey goo, but can we please not do that?
  - shortcake27 3y ago
    > Electricity coming from coal is not something you address by using plastic bottles. That’s not my point and I think you’re deliberately misinterpreting it. > In the US it's probably put on a barge and stripped in Mexico or something, no idea. It's rarely thrown out though, as it's very expensive and very useful. This sounds like wishful thinking. Do you have any evidence to support this claim? “Don’t worry, just trash it and it’ll probably get sorted in Mexico” doesn’t inspire confidence.

anigbrowl 3y ago

How does a steel water bottle break

bearbin 3y ago
dent, crush, lid or seal failure (which can't be cheaply/practically made of steel)
- kitkat_new 3y ago
  have been using this one for more than a decade now: https://www.wasser-aktuell.com/products/1-0l-trekkatanka%E2%84%A2-edelstahl-trinkflasche-mit-edelstahl-wave-verschluss https://www.wasser-aktuell.com/products/1-0l-trekkatanka%E2%... small dents, but no no issues with lid or seal

gessha 3y ago

I’ve been using a Zojirushi thermos as a water bottle and it has been with me for 6 years. There’s replacement parts on their website to get worn out pieces which is convenient.