Reduce Your Waste with a Reusable Bottle

Every day Americans throw away 60 million plastic water bottles. That's 21.9 billion every year, and that's just in the U.S. So what can you do? Buy a reusable water bottle and use it all the time. Coupled with a water filtration system, like Brita or Pur, you're reusable bottle will help conserve water while reducing the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills all over the country. It may seem a little expensive to get started but an added benefit to reusable water bottles is the cash you'll save on hydration. I used to spend at least $60 a month on water bottles and jugs of purified water. Now I spend $14 every six months for filter replacements on my Brita pitcher. Here's an overview of the different kinds of reusable water bottles available.

Metal bottles

Gaiam, Klean Kanteen, Sigg, and Eco Canteen are some of the brands available if you're looking for a metal water bottle. They come in all sizes, colors and styles. They even have smaller versions for children. The real benefit of using metal is that polycarbonate bottles have been shown to leech possibly carcinogenic particles into your drinking water. The stainless steel or aluminum bottles are safer because the metal is non-leaching and usually treated with a water based coating to keep the water inside tasting fresh. The coating also keeps flavors from sticking once inside your reusable water bottle. I have both Gaiam and Klean Kanteen brand bottles and love them both. I like the slimmer design of my Gaiam bottle but found that the Klean Kanteen is less likely to be dented if dropped. Metal bottles aren't great at keeping beverages cold but most of the ones ive found have openings large enough for ice cubes to be used. The metal water bottles are 100% recycle but since they are virtually indestructible you won't need to. They range from $13-$35 in price.

Plastic water bottles

If you choose to go plastic you can find safe options. Check the recycling symbol on your bottle, if it is #2 HDPE (high density polyethylene), or a #4 LDPE (low density polyethylene), or a #5 PP (polypropylene), your bottle is fine. Most plastic bottles sold in stores are #1 and are only rated for one time use. Naglene is one brand that offers reusable plastic bottles featuring HDPE (#2) and LDPE (#4) plastic. The Naglene is made of hard rigid plastic and some people complain that it breaks when dropped from high places. The other brand of plastic bottle I found was the Soma crystal water bottle. Made of FDA approved non leaching plastic it is also flexible and harder to break. I didn't as many style or color options but the reusable plastic water bottles do come in a variety of sizes and Naglene offers a wide variety of non leaching plastic products. They range from $5-$15 in price.

Whether you're doing to save money or you want to do your part to reduce, reuse, and recycle; reusable water bottles are an easy way to do it. The countless designs offered on some of the bottles also make it easy to match your bottle with your personality, making it something you want to carry with you every day. Small changes, like buying reusable water bottles, are just as important as big changes like finding alternative energy. Go green, one bottle at a time.