We do it all the time: we buy a bottle of water from a vending machine and once we’ve drunk the water inside, we reuse the bottle over the next several days by filling it up from the tap. And although this may seem harmless, it could have consequences for your health!
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Filling up your water bottle increases the risk of bacteria appearing. According to the French Magazine Santé Magazine, there could be 20 times more bacteria here than in a dog’s food bowl and 100 times more than in a toilet bowl. So maybe think twice next time before filling up your bottle…
An unsuitable container
The plastics used for water bottles aren’t dangerous if they are only used once, but they can become dangerous. The plastic can release toxic substances into the water, especially if the bottles are exposed to sunlight. In addition, this type of plastic packaging is marked with a number just next to the mark that says the bottle can be recycled (the green triangle). If this number is either a 3 or a 7, this means that this type of plastic can give off those harmful substances. Avoid them!
You should also avoid like hell juices and hot drinks. The heat and the citric acid in fruit juices help the plastic molecules detach themselves from the bottle and so, end up in your water. For the most dire cases, some plastics may even act as endocrine disruptors, and throw your hormonal balance out of whack. Therefore, avoid using plastic bottles for this type of drink.
What solutions are there?
You can reuse your plastic bottle lots of times, but only if you wash it between each use in order to avoid a build-up of bacteria. It’s also better to pour the water in a glass before drinking it instead of drinking directly from the bottle. The best thing to do is buy a reusable bottle made of either glass or stainless steel which you can find on Amazon for around £10. They were made for multiple uses and so don’t release anything into the water and produce zero waste!
