Hi. My name is Blast and I'm a hydroholic. it's been five minutes since I bought my last water carrier. Okay, FIVE water carriers, but it was such a great deal...

-Blast, who currently has almost as many canteen-things as knives...

Hey Blast,

Since you are the chemist and water bottle connoisseur here at the campfire I wanted to ask for your expertise. Which Nalgene bottles are the most easily recycled and are the safest to buy? I've heard their HDPE (#2) is much easier to recycle than their PC (#7) bottles. I'm not sure what plastic their bladders are made of.

On a health note: I'm currently wrapping up my PhD in Physiology at the University of California, Davis and some friends of mine in the department studying reproductive endocrinology have expressed another concern with the PC (#7) plastic; it potentially exposes the consumer to bisphenol A an estrogen mimicing compound that increases risks to cancer and other hormone disrupting activities. Have you heard of any of these concerns as well?

What's your opinion on which type of plastic is best? Thanks for the help on the decision. This is a great coupon that is too good to pass up. However, I hate the potential irony of buying gear to enjoy the outdoors that may someday end up in a landfill, thus harming the very outdoors I wanted to enjoy.

Thanks Blast!

Cheers,

Nemo,

Okay, I'll try to answer your questions.

1. Recyclability (is that a word?): The HDPE are much easier to recycle. There's already companies that turn used HDPE into new, useful item. Patagonia is one manufacturer of outdoor gear which specializes in using recycles HDPE. In my experience I've never heard of anyone recycling Lexan (polycarbonate) material. I'm not sure if they even can be recycled.

2. I'm not sure what their bladders are made of. There are probably six different possible materials and if they use laminates theis complexity increases. Judging from the high quality of Nalgene products I strongly suspect that they use some sort of laminate material. A lot of bladders incorporate silver-based anti-"funk" material which increases the difficulty of recycling.

3. Bisphenol A...estrogen mimic...blah..blah..blah: My first job out of grad school was looking into this and we found nonylphenol compounds had 1,000-1,000,000 less activity than normal estrogen. Bisphenol is in the smae ballpark. To put things in more perspective, there are naturally occurring chemicals in brocolli that have 1-10 times the activity of estrogen. In a nutshell, this is way overrated. As for the cancer, it like anything else, depends on the dose. The amount of bisphenol A released from such a bottle is miniscule. If you take in more than 20 breathes a day you are getting more toxins.

4. Landfill issues: Percentage-wise, your water bottle doesn't amount to a fill of beans compared to the volume of trash generated. Improperly disposing of a single AA battery is much worse for the environment than tossing away a hundred cracked Lexan bottles. The bottles take up space but they don't poison the ground/water.

Taking everything into account, I've chosen Lexan (PC or polycarbonate) bottles as my main water carriers. I find they last much longer than the HDPE bottles. My HDPE bottles became brittle and developed cracks while the Lexan bottles still look brand new. I used bladders for a few years but after two leaked (one Camelback and one Walmart brand) leaving me without water I switched back to Lexan. They are a little heavy and less convinent, but in Texas you don't want to loose your water!

In my humble opinion, the most environmentally friendly water bottle would be some sort of aluminum container. From recycling they come, to recycling they go. You can boil water in them. They are fairly light, but the can be smashed pretty easily. Also, I don't know of any with a mouth big enough for ice cubes (important in Texas).

Like everything else, there's no real "best answer", just assorted trade-offs.

-Blast

If I told you, I would have to kill ya.



AR15.com



Hope your life insurance is paid up.

Thanks Blast! :^)

You comprehensively answered all my questions. I do have one bottle from a company here in northern California called klean kanteen. Its made out of food grade stainless steel.

The bad thing is as you mentioned it does not have a "wide mouth" opening, its about 5 times more expensive than the nalgene bottles and its made in China (worrisome with recent events). I do like that I could put it on the fire in a pinch to purify water, but I would subsequently burn myself no doubt ;^).

I'll give you a heads up if they ever make a wide mouth version and have a sale ;^).

Cheers and thanks again for your expertise!

Nemo,

Those Kleen Kanteens are nice but too heavy for my pack (and wallet).

I did some more digging and manufacturers are beginning to make a special, recyclable Lexan called "Lexan SP". My understanding is this new Lexan SP is currently just made into big sheets for windows in "green" buildings. I'm sure eventually it'll be made into water bottles.

-Blast

Hi Blast,

Thanks for the heads up and again for all the help.

Cheers,
Nemo

If your looking for a 32 oz stainless steel with a wide mouth that fits the water filters and is a standard nalgine wide mouth,Guyotdesigns had a backpack one and I have boiled water in them, the bad thing about them is there heavy and thick but they will boil water in a pinch. I have one in my Bob and carry one to work that's dinged up a little from being dropped on concrete many times but works like a champ.


http://www.guyotdesigns.com/stainlessbottles?sc=11&category=-111

Hey Falcon that's great! It fits with the size, shape and philosophy I was looking for. They even have fair labor and recycling programs.

Even though it might weigh and cost more than twice of a Nalgene bottle I think its worth looking into for its "billy can" like potential to boil in bottle. Using some ingenuity I suppose it could even be pounded into a rough cutting tool. ;^)

I like their other product ideas as well. The design is well thought out... squishy bowls are brilliant.

Cheers,
Nemo