Thinking outside a bottle

Going “green” is now a term everyone has heard of. People are now asked to consider their own roles in the environment around them. This could mean buying a hybrid car, sharing a ride to work or even composting our kitchen waste. One very tangible and easy to correct habit has been to target the use of water bottles that are popular among offices. According to the EPA, in 2010, the United States generated 31 million tons of plastic waste and we are not far behind.

Besides, how much do you know of the safety measure for bottled drinking water? And how to get a reliable supplier?

To bottle, first you need to know the Plastic quality used, are they BPA free? Are they recycling able? Most important is how they sterilized it?

And what’s the number on the bottle? Is the number representing the quality of the plastic? The answer is no...

The numeric codes that you see on many plastic items are used to help sort post-consumer plastics for recycling purposes, and not a measure for the bottle quality.

Different types of plastics are sometimes referred to as “resins” and the numeric symbols are known as “Resin ID Codes.” Each number (1 through 6) signifies a specific type of plastic and usually appears inside a small triangle (often formed by three adjoining arrows) imprinted on the bottom of a plastic item. The number “7” is used to represent a group of other plastics or combinations of plastics. Resin ID codes are not intended to provide guidance on the safe or appropriate use of any plastic item and should not be used for this purpose.

For more information on Resin ID codes, visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code

To check the bottle quality, you need to check whether it is BPA free as printed on baby’s milk bottles.

BPA (Bisphenol A) is an organic synthetic compound with the chemical formula (CH3)2C(C6H4OH)2 belonging to the group of diphenyl methane derivatives and bisphenols, with two hydroxyphenyl groups. It is a colorless solid that is soluble in organic solvents, but poorly soluble in water. It has been in commercial use since 1957.

But most important is how the cleansing of the bottles after retrieving from your office for reuse.

On water quality, what is the pH value? And how long you can use once the seal opened?

Usually, bottle drinking water are processed by R.O. (Reverse Osmosis) and its pH are slightly acidic around 6.5 - 6.8 which are not recommended for most people. Alkaline pH is preferred.