I reuse these bottles all the time, freeze them solid to put in ice chests and as the ice melts, I have drinking water. I clean them thoroughly with soap, hot water and bleach, but I noticed on one of the bottles that it says not to reuse them...what gives? Does anyone know? An internet search revealed nothing. Just curious as to why.

I can understand why you don't want to reuse milk jugs for water consumption, but I can't imagine why you couldn't reuse a container for drinking water...that just had something in it I gave to my child to drink. Especially after cleaning them.

Over time chemicals leach out of the plastic, especially after being cleaned with strong chemicals (bleach). The largest effect seems to be on developing children, but it is linked to some adult problems.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2006/2006-06-02-03.asp

http://envirocancer.cornell.edu/faq/answer.cfm?use.id=57


There's a couple, I'm sure you can find more articles out there.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. So long as you regularly cycle the water in the bottles with fresh supply you aren't increasing your exposure any over buying new ones filled with liquid that have been sitting on store shelves for weeks, or maybe months. The rate of decay is the same over the life of the bottle, more or less. From the moment they are first created and filled with liquid, they are leaching chemicals. Freezing them likely slows the leaching process down.

I would lay off the bleach. Hot soapy water is probably sufficient, unless you are putting poor quality liquid in them. Don't use detergents in them either.

For long term storage, nothing beats glass or stainless.

i use the same type of bottle to carry rice and biscuit
mix..among other things..on canoe trips...they were
sterile water bottles from an hospital ER..a RN buddy
saved and passed them on to me..if they were good for
holding water that was used to wash out wounds they were
good enought for me..i never used them for any long term
storage but i assume the plastic was sort of inert..
a guy whos go's canoeing with me spent some time around
the campfire on the subject of Nalgene jars and the plastic
they were made from..he switched from one to another and
back again as different studys came out on the plastics they
were made from and gave up on trying to find the perfect
one and switched to aluminum Sigg bottles..

Putting the whole chemical leaching issue aside, I'm pretty sure the primary reason for the warning on the Pedialyte bottle is for a completely different reason--bacterial contamination. First of all, these bottles are designed for one-time use, so they aren't designed to be particularly easy to clean. The concern is that bottles which aren't cleaned properly or re-filled with contaminated liquids can harbor bacteria, and we all know that babies and very young children's immune systems are not well developed yet.

The manufacturer's concern is that a parent will think that since they give their child Pedialyte with complete confidence, then the same bottle should be safe to store water or other liquids in, too. Actually, you basically make the same argument in your second paragraph.

The problem is assuming that since the bottle was safe the first time, then it will be safe the second, third, fourth time, etc. The company does not want to be blamed when a consumer reuses the bottle and their child gets sick, even if it's the consumer's fault for not cleaning the bottle properly or re-filling it with contaminated liquid or letting multiple people drink from it and contaminating it that way.

That said, bleach and very hot water are generally not recommended for plastic bottles, particularly bottles made for one-time use. Well, like I said, those bottled aren't particularly easy to clean, like trying to get a bottle brush inside, so bleach may be the only way to reasonably make sure the inside is clean. Use your judgement.

I can see that line of reasoning..same reason there is a picture of a foot getting cut off on a lawnmower and Preparation H says don't take internally.

For the record, I didn't use really hot water and I only used a half a cap full of bleach. Once I washed it with dish soap and water...really good. I filled again, added the bleach and shook well..allowing it to sit for about 30 minutes..then empty, rinse well again and now they are full and frozen.

I have used the hospital irrigation bottles in the past and they are great!!! Finding a supply is hard...you have to know the right people.

Thanks for the info everyone..