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Trash the water bottles -- or don't

Posted: Apr 19th 2008 7:00AM by Jacki Donaldson
Filed under: General Health, Health in the Media, Healthy Habits

I just washed and refilled my single-use water bottles. Put them in the fridge to chill. Will pull them out one by one as needed. Oops. Shouldn't do that, says this TIME magazine article.

Single-use water bottles -- you know, the ones with names like Dasani or Aquafina -- are made of polyethylene terephthalate, or PET. It's a lightweight plastic used in many drink bottles. But it's not intended for re-use. Here's why: PET degrades with use and its wrinkled surface can host germs. And backwash too.

Should you re-use your bottles, then? Not for drinking. Use them for a flower vase. Or recycle. Just don't wash, refill with water, and chill. Like I just did.

Now, like every good story, there's two sides. This article says as long as single-use bottles are cleaned properly with hot soapy water and dried thoroughly between each use, all will be well. Plastics are by nature sanitary materials -- well, maybe not this type -- and are no more likely to harbor bacteria than other kinds of drinking containers -- coffee mugs, serving pitchers, and drinking glasses included.

This one is entirely up to you. As for me, I think I'll stray from refilling my bottles. Especially after recalling that my four-year-old plunged a chocolate Teddy Graham from his mouth into one of my bottles the other day.

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