My Earth Monday: No More Plastic Water Bottles

Image: Water bottles by saaby

Welcome to the very first My Earth Monday! I'm stoked - are you?! :)

Before I even announced this project, I'd spent weeks coming up with ideas and ways to clean up my little footprint, and with the help of Green as a Thistle and Simply Green Living, I've come up with a pretty good list.

Now, when starting a new project, you want to start off right with something relatively easy, so for the first task, I perused my list and decided on what I thought was a no-fail activity: No more plastic water bottles.

It's just not enough for me to recycle the plastic water/juice bottles I buy at the local corner store anymore. Why spend money on these scams convenient water transportation devices when you don't have to?

I must confess that I'm not a newbie at this one. Last year, I bought a cute pink reusable plastic water bottle at Starbucks. It ended up not being very convenient - the bottle leaked, and due to its shape and size, it didn't fit in my bag. What a pain!

This time, instead of buying another plastic bottle, I'll be looking for a stainless steel water bottle, to avoid having any plastic chemicals leaching into my water. These babies are lightweight and claim to be easy to clean. Well, we'll see about that.
They are available at my local organic food store, so I'll be heading there this week.

You can do this too! You don't have to go as far as the stainless steel water bottle, but you can certainly get a reusable bottle and stop sinking your money into bottles and bottles of water.

So, who's in?!

16 comments:

  1. I've been trying to follow this for about a year now. 90+% of the time Hubby and I use our SIGG bottles, and Neal has a Klean Kanteen one that comes with a sippy cup spout.

    I also always use my own mug for take-out coffee. You wouldn't believe how shocked the Timmy's people are when I refuse the "Roll up the Rim to Win" cup.

    Timmy's person (TP): "And here's your cup"
    Me: "No thanks, I don't want a cup. That's why I gave you my mug".
    TP: "You don't want the cup?!"
    Me: "No, I don't want the cup"
    TP (to another TP): "She doesn't want the cup!"
    Other TP: "What do you mean? She doesn't want the cup?"
    TP: "But you might win!"
    Me (gritting my teeth): "I don't want the cup!"

    I swear, this is the exact conversation I've had at 3 different Timmy's.

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  2. This is what you need:

    LED Water Bottle

    Personally, I've always felt smugly superior to those who carry disposable water bottles around with them... I have a mug at home, I have a mug at work, I'm set for water. :-)

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  3. I'm in already. I find that a lot of the things that are "green" are good for many otherwise practical reasons.

    For example, I've read that water that comes out of your tap is some 600 times more regulated than the stuff they bottle (which is just tap water from another city!) Well, maybe I remember the stats wrong, but it was an outrageous ratio!

    from toronto.ca/water/faq:
    "Another important fact: there are fewer government regulations to guide the bottle water industry. While bottled waters should meet the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality, monitoring requirements aren't as stringent as are those for tap water." (I couldn't find the actual ratio, I'm sure I read it there about a year ago. Perhaps they couldn't substantiate it!)

    I *loved* my bottled water. Tasted so "good". Was convenient to grab on the way to the gym...

    My S.O. would complain when I put it on his grocery list - too danged expensive! I would get excited when it was on "sale". WOW! down to $0.25 a bottle! You can't afford not to... That's until you compare it to what comes out of your tap. For one of those $0.25 bottles, you can get approximately 167 out of your tap for the same price (plastic garbage not included). This is for a favourite prairie city that we all know & love. (Thanks for making me do complicated math this early in the week.)

    So, go nuts and get yourself a stainless steel water bottle for $41.25. The first 166 refills are free. ;-)

    Of course, by "practical" above, I meant "cheapskate"

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  4. What if I re-use my plastic water bottles for a few weeks before I throw them away? They're so slim and easily fit into my purse when I'm on the go... :)

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  5. I think those commercials from TO have all of us thinking. Being the inspector lady I am-I can't fathom drinking or eating something that isn't inspected. Although, I admit that I really enjoy the green tea refreshers and have yet to finish the COSTCO sized box from before Christmas.

    The boy has complained about the leaking-I seem to be purchasing more and more containers. If only he didn't lose the bottles at every second sporting event I'd give the $45-bottle a try!!

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  6. I stayed at a hotel in NY last week which offered "make your own water bottles" in the hallway - racks of emoty, clean bottles arranged wine rack-style, and you just grab one, fill it with water and go. I liked it at the time because I have a hard time remembering to drink water but you just made me realize how wasteful the concept really is!

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  7. @myrtle -
    Organza sells SIGG bottles, right? That's where I was planning to get mine.
    Yeah, I don't think the Timmy's folks get it. I've run into the same thing when I bring my travel mug in there too. One guy caught me on a particularly cranky day. It was messy. Glad I got my coffee in my hot little hands before he got the chance to spit in it!

    @albert -
    And you should be smug, ab! :)
    Nice LED water bottle! I like dual purpose stuff... Its "neato" factor far outweighs its "made of plastic" factor... would've been nice to have one of those camping.

    @harmzie -
    LOL... hey, girlfriend, don't blame me for your math nerd tendencies! ;)
    Oh, I get an even bigger savings as I believe I saw the SIGG bottles on sale for $20!

    @zandria -
    I think that qualifies for being green! And any little thing you can do to be a little greener counts! :)

    @lrm -
    hey, great to have you here... finally! yeah, Roomie has always been on my back about the questionable safety of bottled water...his recent description included the words "scam" and "ho-johns"... you know him. :)

    @weighting game -
    I'd like that "make your own water bottle" idea too, as I always forget to drink my water. Maybe the hotel could come up with a less wasteful way to help their guests drink their water, like reusable bottles with the hotel's logo on them.
    I'm hoping that carrying a pricey, yet cool, reusable bottle will help me remember to drink my water! :)

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  8. Hey Nenette,

    There's a wonderful store in Winnipeg called Aviva Natural Health Solution (http://www.aviva.ca). It's a great place and they sell SIGG bottles... about the best prices in Canada, short of a massive sale. (No, I'm not affiliated with them, just passing along a great deal)

    Good luck!

    and Great idea.... I'll be following this journey closely.

    Su Li

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  9. I got my SIGG at Aviva. I paid around $25 for it.

    There is an Aviva by St. Vital. I got mine at the store in the Exchange.

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  10. @su and @myrtle -
    thanks for the heads-up on aviva... I'd forgotten about that place... it's been a while! I'll check it out while the kids and I are in the St.V area today.

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  11. I think REI in the US has the SIGG bottles too. I carry a Nalgene everywhere now since they are unbreakable (and I'm a complete klutz), don't leak, and can handle hot & cold. Hubby and I have also switched to cloth napkins in the house, and I'm trying to be responsible enough to plan ahead and bring tupperware with me for takehome/leftovers (but I've yet to master that). And I *refuse* to put hardwood floors in our house. lol.

    I'm excited about following this series! :)

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  12. hey, just the other day, Roomie and I were just talking about bringing our own Tupperware with us when we go for drive-thru or take-out! lol

    Our floors are in dire need to be replaced... it's the original hardwood from '49, and the gaps between some boards are big enough for an elephant to fall through! i'm hoping we'll be replacing them with bamboo... and cork in the kitchen would be nice :)

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  13. Sorry for the lateness, but I'm with you on the water bottles! I blogged about it here:

    Unsustainable Product: Aqua Colbert (Colbert Report, March 20 2008)

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  14. Hmm...I don't typically buy bottled water, but the one reusable bottle I own is plastic. I certainly don't want to ingest any of the plastic ickiness so perhaps I ought to upgrade!

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  15. Bad news on the SIGG front, I thought you would have been all over this --- I guess you missed the news while you were out camping. :-)

    I've already sent in an email requesting instructions on how to exchange my kids' bottles.

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  16. @Albert: I got the email on Monday from EatIt.ca, the organic shop I frequent and where I got Mini's Hello Kitty SIGG bottle.

    To be honest, I just haven't gotten around to sharing the news yet. I've had a few things on my mind lately.

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