A new report claims Water in plastic bottles could pose a problem, and of course why wouldnt it? This is a much debated topic indeed, so please read. http://www.wwdmag.com/WWD/index.cfm?fuseac...newsItemID=7442 Plastic water bottles are made to decay faster than other plastics so they do not pose too much of a problem in the land fills, this of course makes sense, except if you have lots of water bottles laying around in case of emergency in the garage and decide to drink them one day. Or if they are on a shelf, which has direct sunlight, which allows the UV to start and accelerate the decaying process. These plastics can decompose and start polluting the water inside the water bottle, which you will ingest. I can remember during the height of the mass media International Terrorist scare that I went to Wal-Mart and bought 40 one-gallon containers of fresh water in plastic containers. Eventually I decided to drink these and the water sure tasted like plastic, so I decided to use the jugs to make ice out of thinking that the chances of drinking all that water were quite diminished because the ice would only melt a little during the time period while drinking out of a cup. Still unless I was drinking some liquid with a strong taste, I could taste the plastic inside, bummer I thought? Have you had this same experience? Glass bottles might be better, but are more costly and the rate of glass decomposing is very slow in landfills although it is benign and will not hurt anything while the process takes place over the next 100 years. Some teachers have fund ways to teach and use empty water bottles as materials for projects in the classroom. Surely this is a good idea, yet the number of water jugs and bottles clearly out passes any such extra curricular use. Some say that the toxins from these old bottles is a myth, John Hopkins one of the most respected medical researcher put this PR piece out, so we do have conflicting reports on this? http://www.jhsph.edu/Press_Room/articles/Halden_dioxins.html Some have asked quite sincerely is it okay to keep re-using these bottles? This is quite a common issue and those sports enthusiast will often buy the water bottles with the pop-tops so they can re-use them, taking them back and forth to sports activities and the gym until they are lost or stolen or slide under the seat out of view while driving. Then there are the custom advertising type bottles which they give out at 10K races, Fundraiser Walks for Cancer Society, Bicycling events and as promotional type items at fairs, concerts, events, rodeos, baseball games, air shows, NASCAR, tradeshows and seminars, we have all seen them and there is a whole industry associated with these types of companies with its own association and lobbying group. http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/Catalog.aspx...1&CategoryID=BC The Issues with the landfills is a serious one and Americans do drink an abundance of water out of plastic bottles, most of whom consider themselves healthy people and are doing so partly out of respect for their bodies? Little do they know, that in fact this is not as good an idea as once thought? Which of course you can see is a point to be debated as there are people on both sides of the fence in the medical industry who disagree. Such contaminants in the body are not good for humans one group says, then another says that is hog wish, which of course is applauded by industry. One possible solution to this problem could be a thin layer of ceramic coating applied to the interior of the bottle, which could cost possibly $ .02 each. The ceramic coating would adhere to the surface at a high temperature as the plastic is curing and thus the interior walls of the container would be made of glass, not plastic. This technique in manufacturing is not so difficult and this process would be very easy to do, such added interior strength would mean less plastic material needed to provide for strength and rigidity. The ceramic coating at a thickness of 2-3 mils would be flexible enough to withstand flexing of the bottle itself without coming apart into the inside of the water bottle. |
