I don’t think you sound crazy, you sound *thoughtful.* I stand by the risk assessment process I talked about in the “we’re not experts” post. it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s effective.

maybe you should reframe your tiny choices. instead of choosing to avoid bisphenol-a, simplify it to “I’m going to avoid plastics.” it’s not as scary and it’s an easier to tackle decision.

does saying that make ME a sell-out? it might! but every person can’t do every thing for the environment (just yet). we are always constantly making compromises. for example, think of the fossil fuels if your office got water in heavy glass bottles instead of plastic.

I’m fairly certain hydrogen peroxide is sold in those dark plastic bottles because light breaks it down… some chemicals also will etch / degrade glass and thus have to be stored in plastic (and vice versa) but I don’t think H2O2 is one of them…. assuming this is the case if it was in glass it would have to be opaque glass (hard) or covered with aluminum foil or something like that.

I totally agree with you about bisphenol-A, and since I have tiny babies to make choices for, I actually went with the (horribly expensive and ridiculously huge carbon footprint of) delivery of water in giant glass bottles. That said, now that I am not nursing, I drink tap water I filter through a Brita. But I have already had children, so I am not passing along any more chemicals/pollutants to the next generation. I don’t know your case. But maybe you could bring a filter of some sort to work? One that attaches to the sink if you don’t want to use a Brita (plastic) filter? HTH

hi! there is a simple solution for the bottle part; don’t want to be a pest because i did comment and mention it before, but the kleen kanteen is perfect! it’s stainless steel, uncoated, and while the outside top of the lid is plastic, the part that touches your water inside is just steel. no, i don’t work for them; i’m a san francisco yoga instructor and massage therapist, *grin*. i’ve been using a kleen kanteen for a year and it still has the cleanest-tasting water i’ve ever used. i carry a steel thermos of tea (the darn inside of the lid is plastic on that one, but it’s the best i’ve found) and a kleen kanteen around in my backpack on my bicycle to my classes all over the city every day!

now i’d love a solution for the thermos if someone knows an all-steel thermos….

I use a “Hot Shot” hot water dispenser (Sunbeam brand) at work to heat water for my tea. The body of it is plastic, but the element that heats the water is metal. If it’s heat that causes worse leaching, maybe a similar device (or electric kettle) would be an acceptable compromise?

I’d say that heating water for tea is my “water bottle” issue: I bought a whole extra appliance! Consumerism! But on the other hand, it heats water in 30 seconds, compared with the 2-5 minutes a kettle on the stove takes. Which is the better choice? So often, I think that it’s nearly impossible to make an actual GOOD choice from what we have in front of us. If only everything were as easy as reusable bags!

There are tons of stainless and aluminum thermos water bottles available. I got mine at REI, but you can find some at reusablebags.com!

ok, here’s a question: in your office water cooler system, where is the water heated? In the actual polycarbonate body? Or elsewhere?

Because if heated water is what leaches Bisphenol-a from the polycarbonate, BUT the polycarbonate never actually holds heated water, is there actually a problem with the office water cooler?

Does that make sense? I mean, if the holding device is the issue, but the holding device never holds the hot water that draws out the bad, isn’t it less of a danger (than say a holding device that contains the hot water for any period of time-like a nalgene bottle, or microwaving a soup or something)?

(for example, my work has a water line hooked up to a filter / heating element thingie rather than your old-school watercooler with a bottle set up. So for cold water, the water goes from the main water line through some sort of chiller thingie and out the tap. For hot, it goes from the water line through a heating element and out the tap. No holding device. )

Hey Jennygirl!
I love this site:))

I am just curious..alll this work toward researching water bottles is awesome and i’m glad you’ve taken this tiny choice seriously and are keeping us informed of your journey!:)..but i don’t get something. If you put so much effort into avoiding plastics/chemicals etc into your body than what about the things that you eat?..Its really not hard to be vegan or at least take your ( talking to the community herel ) vegetarianism a step further..and then of course there is all the processed food that we put in our mouths…..just food for thought….or vica versa:)…we can take a swig out of the mason jar and eat vegan to take care of both ourselves and the planet!:)

Maybe it’s a silly question, but what about tap water heated in the microwave?

hey there jenn. here’s a thought. perhaps you can make a one time purchase of nantucket nectars glass bottle. it has a smaller opening at the top than a peanut butter jar. recycle the lid and find a cork to put in the top. i’ve seen big ones out there. (even better, why not walk around with a corked wine bottle full of water!)

I know this is an old post, but I wanted to stay on topic…I was just at REI, all ready to buy a Klean Kanteen when I noticed a bunch of Camelbak water bottles that had a big “BPA free” sticker on them! According to the sticker, they are Bisphenol-A and phthalate-free! And they’re only $9! They are made in China, but so are the Klean Kanteens. Anyway, this was an exciting find for me (I ended up buying one) and I wanted to share!

[...] important they are to each of us. For example, there’s the plastics issue: Jenn is concerned about the chemical leaching issue, while I’m not, really. I would rather avoid using plastics because I think we use way too [...]

some responses just make you say “huh???”

:)

[...] Mason Jars & Further Water Bottle Insanity [...]

[...] save up some of those glass beverage bottles (we certainly don’t want you reusing the plastic ones!)- then brew a batch of tea at [...]

[...] And by making iced tea this sun tea way, I avoid using the energy intensive hot-water spigot on my office water cooler and then the resulting need to put it in the fridge to cool it down. I could cut the footprint of [...]

Wherever the Western diet, industry, culture, and religion goeth, so goes illness, a need for dentists, over-the-counter and prescribed drugs, psychologists, neurologists, gastroenterologists, cardiologists, well, you know the rest. Each illness is an opportunity, and illness is big, big business in America. There’s probably not one food item in your average supermarket that’s free of toxicity, no building is without toxic materials, or car, or house, or anywhere else. From cosmetics to clothing, from some kitchen utensils to toothpaste, from water you drink to water you bath and shower in, etc., so, what the heck difference does it make if a lid has a plastic seal, that’s like a rain drop compared to a tidal wave of every day bombardment. Rather than complain, do something, attack in writing, telephone, excuse me, cell phone, computer, faxes, etc. with local ‘do the wrong thing’ politicians, businesses, etc., and insist and persist on some sanity in the food we eat, the air we breath, and the water we drink. But none of us will, we’ll just dutifully follow the loser’s path and let the barbarous industrial machine grind us up. You’re sweet people, but it’s time to get aggressive, it’s time to speak out and become pro-active. Don’t worry about one billionth of a particle of a plastic chemical, did you know any plastic bottle with the letters PET OR PETE at the bottom spew estrogen into your system, men become less men and women become aggressive bitches. They don’t grow hair on the breasts, but they do sometimes act a bit over-zealous at times. Alligators in Florida where hundreds of these toxic plastics float around change their sex organ configuration, they literally atrophy. But what the heck, go along with the wealthy and be their willing slave and think, gosh, that darn plastic is really a worry. Mercy, what you guys couldn’t do if you attacked the source of the problems, like Coke, Pepsi, General Foods, Kellogg’s, the AMA, the EPA, the FDA, USDA, the food industry, and don’t you love Altria, short for Phillip Morris, who now sell stuff they call food, but is nothing more than an enormous mix of cheap chemicals to keep you weird. To solve the problem you find the cause and then you organize and lay your health agenda out in succinct ways so even an eighth grader can understand it, anything past that and the average Viagra using politician starts wishing for a therapist to pat their manicured hands.

Jen,
You could line your plastic lid with waxed paper. I usually cut it long enough to hang over the threads. Then I screw the lid on, it won’t leak and I usually get a few uses out of one piece. A roll of waxed paper will last for years(unless you find other uses for it ;~) Also check out http://www.thinksportbottles.com/products.htm they don’t sweat and are isulated for hot or cold use.

[...] hold water, more ways to hold water, and traveling with water bottles. Then we’ve discussed using glass jars as water carrying devices, collapsable cups to hold water, and even more options for water bottles! We’ve talked about [...]

I just got this idea, glass seems to be the way to go, yeah? But it’s often the lids that cause trouble, what about something that uses a cork?

Or maybe, if you’re not into glass, there could be ceramic options. If you’re into pottery at all or know people who are into it, you could just make your own clay bottle?

This is the latest idea I’ve been looking into!

[...] here at Team Tiny Choices, we’ve used them to pack waste-free lunches and to fill with delicious beverages (cold OR hot, thanks to a tiny jar [...]