"Green" Product Review: Wal-Mart's Reusable Water Bottle
Good Intentions Can't Save a Flawed Product
I recycle my bottles religiously, but in the interest of saving money and cutting down on the packaging and fuss of buying all those bottles, I decided to go the reusable route. I happen to find our city water here in Greensboro very palatable, but alas, I can't simply refill my plastic water bottles with it because apparently the chlorination reacts with the plastic and makes a yucky taste. I decided to buy a traditional glass carafe and cup to take the place of the plastic water bottle on my nightstand.
I went to Wal-Mart to find an expensive bedside carafe; unfortunately, the only carafes they had were those wine carafes with the ultra-wide necks (which, just in case you were wondering, let the wine "breathe"). Nothing I could fit a glass over. However, something else caught my eye: a colorful, blue-and-green aluminum water bottle. Eco-Friendly!! The sign hyped. Well, that's me, I thought. I couldn't find the price, but I picked one up, thinking it could only be a couple of dollars. While checking out, I discovered it was actually $4.00, a little higher than I'd expected, but for something that will last for some great while and save my buying bottled water, certainly it was a worthy investment.
The bottle consists of an aluminum body (labeled "recyclable"--not "recycled") and a plastic cap with straw. The instructions caution against microwaving (duh, it's metal!) and specify hand washing only. The aluminum part is made in the good ol' U.S.A., but the plastic cap and straw are manufactured in China and shipped here, so that wrecks the environmentally-friendly aspect just a tad.
It also probably resulted in the problems I encountered while attempting to use the bottle for its intended function: It leaks where the cap joins the bottle, which I found out immediately while hand-washing, and air leaks into the straw, which I found out while drinking. If you have ever tried to drink a beverage that is being "aerated" by a leaky straw, you will understand how annoying this is. And when I tried to disconnect the straw and just tip up the bottle to drink, the water dribbled out of the leak at the cap join!
So, essentially the Wal-Mart reusable water bottle is useless, but all is not completely lost-at least it's (partially) recyclable. Into the bin it goes!
Published by Ali Canary
Trying to inform, but not trying to be too formal. View profile
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14 Comments
Post a CommentGreat review! I'll be staying away from those bottles. I am new on AC and articles like this is why I am starting to love it. There is great information in the articles and then there is more info in the feedbacks.
Awww, too bad. I bet you thought I'd never get around to reading this one! I finally made it, Bat! ;)
Thanks for the review. I liked your point about the shipping from China!
I'm sorry to hear your local tap water does not go well into used plastic bottles. I only buy the bottled water, one unit at a time, when I am stuck somewhere with a bad case of the Turusdays and need a cold water fix. But then, I save and refill that bottle over and over with tap water, after I get back home. I never have any problem with the taste. That being the case, I would have little use for the walmart thing, even if it worked like a charm. Still, it's good you warned the public against this abomination.
Great article..!
PS. Nancy, old bread wrappers are actually great doggy doo picker-uppers! It's encouraged here in eco-oriented Blgtn. In fact, in our last neighborhood, some clever person got tired of finding dog doo in her yard & began to cut-open empty gallon milk jugs & wire them by the handle to stop sign posts near her home. She filled them w/ empty bread wrappers for dog-walkers. It caught on & spread. Now variations on that idea can be seen all over town. You just stick your hand down in the wrapper & use it like a plastic glove to pick up the poop. Then draw it off your arm, fold it over itself & toss in trash. (Or whatever you care to do w/ your dog-doo...) Free & eco-friendly!
What a bummer, Bat! So glad you warned us, because I'd been on the look-out for the same thing. Lindy's hose comment is a riot, but this is news to me abt frozen plastic bottle of water being toxic when they thaw! WTF?! Never heard of Bonnie's shake-it-up method, either, but I cracked up over her kids' bottles looking like snow globes after they drink w/ food! Been there, sister! ; D
I think Linda Lou's got the right idea.
Well now what? Can't use reusable, can't reuse unreusable. Just turn the hose on and put it in your mouth. My tip for Nancy: Do not freeze plastic bottles full of water, when they thaw they release toxins. Back to the hose. Thanks, Bat.
You poor thing! It does seem like an endless struggle to have tasty water on the go... I had the same problem with the taste of refilling the plastic bottles with tap water (especially when my 3- and 5-year-old's drink them after eating and the bottles start to look like a Christmas snow toy when turned upside down... But I did hear a tip that I have found particularly helpful... If you do fill up a plastic bottle or any kind of "to go" bottle, if you shake it really good before drinking it, it actually tastes better! I'm not a physicist so I can't tell you why, but it works for me (as long as it hasn't been pre-drunk by the kids). ;O)