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Plastic Drinking Bottles

arthunter888

Bluelighter
Joined
May 23, 2009
Messages
623
Recently I was in quick need of a plastic drinking bottle for traveling with water. I found some that were quite old (6 months), and smelled really bad (bacteria/mold).

Some people have told me that plastic is porous and leaks certain chemicals into the water, but this is debatable and I don't know the absolute answer. I was wondering if it is safe to just sterilize it by shaking with rubbing alcohol and/or hydrogen peroxide? There's 2 questions about this.

1) Will the peroxide or rubbing alcohol be absorbed into the plastic, causing toxicity when drinking the water it will leak into?

2) Has the bacteria been absorbed into the plastic? If yes, then I assume the sterilizing agent won't clean this, but will the bacteria be leaked back out of the plastic into the drinking water?

Anything to add, please do. thanks
 
Chemicals can leach out of plastic bottles, especially the one-time use ones you buy already filled with water. Those you should never refill and if they've sat in a hot car, throw them out empty the water and recycle the bottle. ;)

As far as filling a bottle with a chemical, and then drinking out of it, that just sounds stupid. I'd never willingly and knowingly drink out of anything that had chemicals stored in it.

Seriously, just get a glass or metal water bottle. It'll cost you a lot more than a dollar up front, but in the end you will be saving the earth and your body from exposure to harmful chemicals.

I got one of these (and got one for my girlfriend) awhile back, and find that they are awesome. But I drink a lot of water and that one is probably much too big for the average water drinker. They have smaller ones. ;)
 
^ I'm not talking about STORING rubbing alcohol or peroxide in the bottle. I'm asking if pouring some in the bottle then shaking for a minute or 2, followed by thorough rinse would be safe and/or kill all the bacteria.
 
Yes chemicals leach into plastic, and into the material that is contained within them. Once bacteria has grown into the plastic, it's pretty much done for. Unless its an extremely hard thick plastic, like, baby toys for example... then its porous. Just quit using plastic as reusable containers and get glass or metal.

Also, no putting rubbing alcohol or peroxide in the bottle won't help.
 
Some plastics made with some chemicals can in some circumstances, with the presence of the right solvent, leach chemicals out.

If you treat the interior with strong bleach solution or rubbing alcohol, any living organisms inside will be killed.

The quantity of rubbing alcohol or bleach leached into the plastic and leached back out, from a small water bottle, will be utterly harmless. Keep in mind that bleach in small quantities is used to sanitize drinking water when camping/etc and you drink it directly. Keep in mind that when you use rubbing alcohol on yourself, if you can smell it, that means you are inhaling fumes which will be absorbed from your lungs.

Same with any residue in a bottle. It will not begin to approach the level required for toxic effects.
 
I actually re-use plastic water bottles sometimes for a couple months before buying another one and repeating this event. I've often thought, wondered, pondered and deliberated over this lifestyle choice. A friend of a friend's dog's brother's wife's cousin once informed me of the "dangers" of this malpractice, but alas I laughed him out of the theatre! Oh my, 'twas of frightfully good humour indeed!

Upon reading this thread, I shall review any future with this habit.
 
fuck i didn't realize this, ive been re-using the same bottle for over a year! urghhhhhhhhhhh FUCK
 
lol... just buy a nonporous water bottle. wash it at the end of every day, or if you're lazy every few days. in theory you only need one of these, and it will last years!
 
I use an empty water bottle occasionally to drink milk or Red Koolaid out of occasionally, if there are no clean glasses.

But it is always a water bottle that I finished the water out of the night before.

So I think I'm safe.

The empties get cashed in around here every week. There are six adults living in my home. All have cars and all have cash flow trouble. Bottles and cans get rounded up and recycled fast.
 
I bought a 1 litre SIGG water bottle a few years ago and use it every time I drink water - filling it up a couple of times a day. I wash mine in warm water and soap and rinse it out every week or so then let it dry. It's a bit more maintenance than reusing water bottles like I used to years ago!

There's heaps of reusable bottles on the market now, I would probably use one of those rather than trying to clean your water bottle - I'm pretty sure that won't prevent any toxicity.

Life was so simple once eh?!
 
I'm another Water Bobble lover. :)

Previously I was using one of these (pictured below). It's made from glass and has a rubber casing around it for grip. It was wonderful, except for the opening - it was far too wide, and I found myself dribbling water on myself constantly! Maybe it's my clutz status that causes it, but either way - it wasn't working for me.
glass-water-bottles-lifefactory-650ml-red.jpg


I've just seen these (pictured below) and I'm wondering if they might work better than the one above? It seems to have a much smaller opening so I might not look like I've dribbled all over myself after drinking from it. :p
bottlesup-glass-water-bottle-green.jpg
 
Hi,

Does anybody have any links to peer-reviewed papers that:

  • establish that the plastics used for mineral water bottles will 'leak chemicals' into the water when improperly stored at high temperatures and/or direct sunlight?
  • establish the level of exposure required for this to happen?
  • establish what chemicals these are?
  • establish to what extent this has any effect on human health?
  • establish that washing drinking bottles with hydrogen peroxide has a lower risk ratio than simply swilling it out with some warm soapy water?
Lots of people do this. If the risks are high, then it would be a huge public health issue.
 
No one has changed their diets yet to be away from the sugary foods, snack cakes and chips. We all know the risks of eating a diet high in sugar and fat laden foods.
In spite of the evidence, yes.

But that's not what I'm really asking. I'm not suggesting that the public are rational enough to alter the behaviour on the basis of evidence. Most of the evidence suggests that the contrary is true - that people change health-related behaviour based on what are often quite shallow reasons.

The point I'm making is that if re-using plastic bottles is as risky as some have suggested (even going so far as to advise about heat and light exposure), would it not be associated with some poorer health outcomes in the large number of people who do this regularly? If so, what are those health outcomes? Hence my point: if the risks are high, it would be a huge public health issue. I want someone to explain what that impacted health issue is.
 
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