Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/vJkEL7Zi9vQ

 

If you refill a plastic bottle with water, after 24 hours that water contains more than 400 chemicals released by the plastic and over 3500 from the dishwasher soap you used to clean it.

University of Copenhagen chemists tested 3 different types of plastic bottles and compared them with a glass bottle.  The bottles were tested 3 ways: after a single water rinse and refilling the bottles and letting them sit for a day at room temperature; after 5 water rinses, a refill, and the day sit; and after a cycle in a dishwasher, refilling with water, and the room temperature day sit.  The drinking water then went through solid phase extraction and chromatographic analysis.

 

The “drinking” water in the water rinsed and reused bottled contained toxic substances including carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, anti-oxidants, and even the insecticide DEET.  The water also contained substances never before identified in plastic with 70% having unknown toxicity to humans.  Putting the bottles, both plastic and glass, through the dishwasher makes things worse since the washing wears down the plastic and releases more chemicals while the detergent adds thousands more chemicals to bottles of any composition.  Even rinsing the bottles after dishwashing leaves 13% of the chemicals in the plastic bottles compared with only 1% in the glass bottles.

 

The bottom line: recycle, don’t refill plastic bottles.  If you want refillable water bottles, use ones made of glass or stainless steel that have been well rinsed with faucet drinking water before use.

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389422001194?via%3Dihub

 

#waterbottles #plastic #reuse #dishwashing #glass