The Best Reusable Water Bottles (PHOTOS)

Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used each year to make disposable drinking bottles. Manufacturing these bottles requires an estimated 47 millions gallons of oiland, in the U.S., less than 20 percent of these bottles are recycled. This means that plastic bottles clog landfills, where they can sit for up to a thousand years. By carrying a reusable bottle, you will keep plastic bottles out of the landfill and reduce the use of non-renewable resources required to make these bottles. Browse our top picks for reusable water bottles to find the one that's right for you. Bottoms up!

Klean Kanteen Bottles

Klean Kanteen's line of reusable bottles was introduced in 2004, as the first stainless steel option. Their bottles are 100% recyclable and BPA-free. They are a perennial favorite among the eco-conscious because they are durable, lightweight, easy to clean, capable of holding cold and warm (not hot) beverages.
Klean Kanteens are available in many sizes and vibrant colors.



Price Range: $15-$30.00

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Comments

[Kevin Henry]

01:59 PM on 02/02/2010

I started a company called Pangea Bottles, we have a simple mission of bringing clean water to people in need around the world. Every stainless steel bottle that is sold is giving one person clean water for 4 years. Our partner non-profit, Living Water International, drills wells in Haiti, Africa, and South America. I believe that our reusable water bottles are by far the best on earth! Check them out at http://www.PangeaBottles.com

[Marilyn Barrett]

02:49 PM on 02/01/2010

My company, www.revengeis.com sells a stainless steel ecospout for $12.95, stainless steel hybrid mug for $21.95 with special price of $24.95 for both. Our customers tell us these are the best mugs and water bottles they have ever used.

[ghee99]

01:25 AM on 02/01/2010

reusable water bottles are major breeding grounds for bacteria,

gross!

[StoryTime]

12:55 AM on 02/01/2010

I was a SIGG person before the BPA problem...dammit...
I don't want to buy from China either (Klean Kanteen) because of ethicle AND safety issues too!

But what about a glass bottle, duh!
I now use a glass bottle, usually it's a Honest tea bottle, fine.
Just have to be extra careful which is a good thing.

[Oleg1]

10:53 PM on 01/31/2010

Ehh, so for a price of one $30 bottle I can buy about 180 bottles of water at the local U.S. Gigantic store, drink it and then recycle the empties.
So the where is the up-side of schlepping this bottle around?

[Glich]

11:38 PM on 01/31/2010

are you serious? You're paying hundreds of times the price of tap water for those bottles, not to mention the massive amounts of waste you are creating by consuming plastic bottles. Recycling is a way to make you FEEL better about what you are doing, but in fact it only contributes to the waste and energy consumption of this throw away culture. Most of that plastic doesnt actually get reused when you recycle, they use massive amounts of oil to make the bottles, and the energy used to melt it down and refine it costs more than making a new bottle anyway.

[mizerello]

09:49 PM on 01/31/2010

Sigg has supposedly addressed the BPA problem in their newest bottles. Don't know if I believe them because I don't trust any corporations at this point, but...the fact that they don't make their product in China and it is not made of plastic makes them my favorite. Also, another poster talked about how delicate SIGG bottles are...not my experience. I've dropped my new bottle several times in the past few months while working out and nary a dent or problem. In response to the poster who complained about cost--$15-$25 a bottle. If you're presently buying bottled water, you're paying that for one case and, you're also clogging up the land fills and filling your body with chemicals. The mindset that everything needs to be cheap is what's gotten us into the problems we now have. You can't have something for nothing. If we all really paid what it costs in fuel and resources, not to mention what production does to the environment, I don't think we'd be buying the newest technology every year and we certainly couldn't afford to eat at McD's every week--that big mac costs way more than the $2 or $3 they charge when you figure in the costs to our environment.

[Tomlastliberalleft]

09:28 PM on 01/31/2010

I’m a chemist. In years past I use to interact with many other chemist who actually had to worry about the leaching of trace contaminants from all sorts of containers, but mostly from plastics. So with that I’ll throw in my view of this.

All plastics leach out chemical fillers, stabilizers, hardeners and so forth. That old cell phone your toddler is using to as a teething ring, it has fairly high levels of Titanium and (get this) Arsenic! A good rule of thumb is if the plastic is strong, stiff and dyed with a pigment don’t use it as a “long term” water bottle, ever. What is at work when you fill a water bottle is the process of diffusivity. Simply, the less desirable chemicals will diffuse from a region of high concentration (the plastic) into a region of low concentration (the drinking water.) This will occur no matter what you do. The cleaner the water you insist on drinking the more likely contaminants will diffuse into it. Some plastics leach less than others, but they all leach to some degree. In short you are kind of screwed on this one no matter what you do, so here is my advice.

[Tomlastliberalleft]

09:29 PM on 01/31/2010

Do not use polycarbonate for long-term use. Find a LDPE bottle fill it with really hot water, let is sit for a day, dump the water, rinse, repeat. Fill the bottle with distilled water and let it sit in the bright sun for a week. Dump the water, rinse thoroughly with tap water, then distilled water, let dry. Use this bottle for no more than a year, then discard and start over. Plastic breaks down over time, the “cleaner’ that plastic is to begin with, the faster it will degrade when in use. By that I mean as you expose your cleaned drinking bottle to heat, light and physical wear the cross-linked polymers begin to degrade. That is why you should not clean a single bottle and then use it forever, really bad idea, sounds great but it is the wrong thing to do chemistry wise.

I would not use a metal container. I have seen some metal containers touted as safe because they are stainless steel or have a plated interior surface. Well, that plating will degrade and leach Chromium and Nickel into your water. The cleaner the water the more metal you get. Distilled water will literally “attack” stainless steel and cause it to oxidize (rust) at a molecular level. Absolutely no advantage to using metal here, just ask the Romans how metal water pipes worked out in the long run.

[Tomlastliberalleft]

10:58 PM on 01/31/2010

Water. I test drinking water for a living. I think the best approach is to filter your tap water as best you can and drink that. Industrial processed drinking water may be safe to drink, but how safe is the process? Most tap water in this country is pretty good but tap water is at the very least contaminated with trihalomethanes (such as chloroform). Trihalomethanes result from processing ground water or lake/river water by chlorination. In my opinion tap water is essentially safe for adults, but for little kids I’m not so sure. The best bet is filtration of tap water prior to use, or pour out the tap water and let stand for a day, the THMs are volatile and they will outgas from the tap water easily. You are exposed to a huge amount of THMs every time you go swimming in chloronated water and if your child loves the pool (most do) obsessing about THMs in their drinking water is sort of nuts. Life is all about the choices we make. Think clearly, think often.

[Glich]

09:38 PM on 01/31/2010

this post seems to cut off before any actual advice is given

[Tomlastliberalleft]

09:48 PM on 01/31/2010

It would appear the mods did not want to hear from a chemist on this.

[jsarets]

07:28 PM on 01/31/2010

Just get these:

http://www.sks-bottle.com/340c/fin51b.html

BPA-free, dishwasher-safe HDPE drink bottles, less than $5 apiece for the 1L size.

[Tomlastliberalleft]

09:29 PM on 01/31/2010

Do not use polycarbonate for long-term use. Find a LDPE bottle fill it with really hot water, let is sit for a day, dump the water, rinse, repeat. Fill the bottle with distilled water and let it sit in the bright sun for a week. Dump the water, rinse thoroughly with tap water, then distilled water, let dry. Use this bottle for no more than a year, then discard and start over. Plastic breaks down over time, the “cleaner’ that plastic is to begin with, the faster it will degrade when in use. By that I mean as you expose your cleaned drinking bottle to heat, light and physical wear the cross-linked polymers begin to degrade. That is why you should not clean a single bottle and then use it forever, really bad idea, sounds great but it is the wrong thing to do chemistry wise.

I would not use a metal container. I have seen some metal containers touted as safe because they are stainless steel or have a plated interior surface. Well, that plating will degrade and leach Chromium and Nickel into your water. The cleaner the water the more metal you get. Distilled water will literally “attack” stainless steel and cause it to oxidize (rust) at a molecular level. Absolutely no advantage to using metal here, just ask the Romans how metal water pipes worked out in the long run.

[gene poole]

05:43 PM on 01/31/2010

1. Buy a 1 litre bottle of Deer Park water.
2. Drink it.
3. Refill it with tap water for the next year or so.
4. Drink 1 3/4 a day.

There. Reusable and cheap.

[ghee99]

01:24 AM on 02/01/2010

no,
the whole point of the expensive water bottles is to LET EVERYONE KNOW HOW MUCH YOU CARE

and an extra-expensive water bottles (as silly as this sounds) are a status symbol among the wealthy eco-elite who like to show their conspicuous consumption, but in a way that SHOWS THEY CARE ABOUT THE PLANET

its all about looks,

a deer park bottle?
how déclassé !

[gene poole]

03:36 PM on 02/01/2010

take the label off. once it gets beat up looking enough, they get the idea.

[MaryAnnVicki]

09:56 AM on 02/21/2010

Reusing these kind of bottles more than once or twice is a breeding ground for bacteria. They are difficult to clean effectively because of the little opening. For everyday use I use a glass bottle or jar.

[rb99]

04:38 PM on 01/31/2010

Kleen Kanteen tastes like metal no matter how many times its washed. And Earth Lust bottles are pretty, but they leak. Sigg are pretty fragile - one drop and it's bent out of shape forever.

[femmyror]

03:56 PM on 01/31/2010

Why are they all so outrageously expensive? $15-20 for for a fricking bottle?

[Boegrrl]

10:43 AM on 01/31/2010

PLATYPUS reuseable waterbottles by far and away are the highest quality for the least bucks. I tried them all about 21/2 yrs ago.
Platypus: made in the US of medical quality plastic (never had BPA), is taste free, and is remarkably portable/light weght and rolls up & can stick it in yr pocket. Ideal for airtravel. Virtually indestructible, I have had mine in use constantly for these years.
Best of all it is NOT a pretty bauble - it is anti-consumerism, utterly functional and CHEAP at most sports stores - 1/2 the price of the pretty baubles.
It is also a great idea fundraiser for non profits, make it for $1.60 and sell it for 3 or 5$.
Be smart, and go Platy!

[CPAwADD]

10:29 AM on 01/31/2010

I'm picking out a thermos for you
not an ordinary thermos will do!

[pat8942]

09:54 AM on 01/31/2010

I use an empty 1qt rubbing alcohol bottle after transferring the contents to an old stopper top beer bottle.
I'm no greenie, but since I live in the desert it's necessary to always keep water in your vehicle just in case, and I'm not going to pay an outrageous price for a fancy water bottle.

[ColoradoJake]

09:41 AM on 01/31/2010

Sigh... who does the research at HP for these things? And how do I apply for their job? Because they're obviously not very good at it...

All these bottles are made in China. And we all know not to trust baby formula, drywall or pet food that is made in China so why should we trust water bottles?

http://www.polarbottle.com/

Made in Boulder, Colorado. Injection-molded, no particulate air pollution created during manufacturing. Double wall insulating construction. Dishwasher safe. Made of non-leaching #4 LDPE, low density polyethylene, which is recyclable. BPA and phthalate free. I purchased mine at REI for $14.

Nalgene products are made in NY but like cucumber mentioned below, I've also read about some of the other things Nalgene manufactures.

[natasha42]

11:31 AM on 01/31/2010

Thank you! I have been looking for a bottle that is both insulated and made in the US. Funny how the price is less than half the other brands', yet the other guys claim to manufacture abroad to keep their prices down.

[Hoodooit]

09:14 PM on 01/31/2010

In many cases, the reasons products are manufactured abroad is because of lax environmental standards . This keeps their related manufacturing costs down but shipping costs offset their profits. As consumers of imported goods, we may be contributing to the pollution of foreign countries and adding american workers to the unemployment lines.