Friday, April 25, 2008

a better water bottle


I was catching up on some tivo yesterday and was told the Earth Day Oprah was really good. I love Julia Roberts and am always eager to learn some new green tips, so while the little ones napped yesterday, I indulged. The show was great. I learned a lot, but one thing really resonated with me. I have been feeling guilty about all the water bottles we go through, but kept using them because at least we recycle them. Well I heard the most astounding statistic yesterday that really sealed the deal for the fate of our plastic water bottles....

"More than 60 million plastic bottles end up in landfills and incinerators every day – a total of about 22 billion last year. " (according to Waste Management World)

Wow! That is a HUGE number! I also have heard less than 20% of water bottles end up recycled. We are flooding our earth with bottle of water. It's ridiculous!

Well, our family is done contributing to that waste. I am ordering us all a Sigg bottle this morning. Here are some facts about the Sigg bottle from their site:
  • Weight – typically, SIGG bottles are 10-20% lighter-weight than Lexan, allowing you to lighten that load a bit in your backpack.
  • Great TasteSIGGs are truly taste neutral. Lexan brands may claim this but go ahead and put them to the test. Leave your filled plastic bottle out in the sun for a couple hours and see how your water tastes the next day – a bit like plastic we've been told.
  • Durability – Check out Backpacker magazine's June 2006 issue where SIGG was put to the test against all the leading water bottle brands. When the smoke from the 100 pound cannon cleared, Backpacker declared SIGG "The World's Toughest Water Bottle" (See complete article under SIGG News).
  • StyleSIGG's have been described as "works of art". For the extra few dollars, why not express yourself?
I am making the investment this morning. With what we spend on cases of bottled water, I figure this will balance out and actually save us money pretty quickly. I am also going to invest in a Brita Filter System, so we can have cold water ready for the kids at all times!

One thing I love about the Sigg bottles is all the designs they have. Which would you choose??


post signature

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

They didnt have some of the cool designs they showcase available for purchase on their website.... bummer! I am blessed with fantasic quality well water and i picked up a similar (yet not fancy) aluminum bottle last year at Coleman http://www.coleman.com/coleman/colemancom/detail.asp?product_id=809-775T&categoryid=5190 I like that this other company has thermal ones... a definate must IMO or using a thermal cozie of some sort. Now if we can get thermal ones with neat graphics and a sippy top lol

Anonymous said...

coleman link here

Mommy Mechanics said...

We just got a Brita filter system and we love it!

greenkiddo said...

Thanks for the feedback guys! I am waiting on getting our Sigg bottles until this weekend. REI is opening right around the corner, so I figure it's "greener" for me to wait and go pick them up myself than to have them shipped to me!

~steph

Heidi Jo the Artist said...

Too cool! I just ordered some a few days ago, and then I read your blog today! I did a lot of research on them because of my indecisiveness!? I found compared to other water bottles (both aluminum and the like and plasic too) these are the best on the market.

I let our son pick out his own and he is excited and keeps asking me when his is going to arrive. He picked out his own called, "Star Power", I picked out "Maharadsha Bottle Violet", my hubby picked out "Jagged Edge Bottle", and I also got one extra that I thought was fun, it could be a second for my son or for my almost one year old, or extra for me or hubby...called "Mosquito". We will be ordering a couple of extra tops so drinking out of them will be easier (instead of the unscrew method) especially for our son or when one of us is driving.

You'll have to let us know which one/s you pick out. There are so many fun designs! You are lucky you are getting a REI store near you. We don't have much around here of well, anything!!! So online shopping is mostly it for us, especially with the high gas prices!!

A couple of things I did read about Sigg water bottles, they dent easily (which for us, I’m sure they will get dented at some point, we’ll try to be a bit more careful by hauling them in a reusable bag to the vehicle, the good of these bottles out ways the bad in my opinion) and the 1.0L that I got for my hubby and I won’t fit in most standard cup holders. We have an added thing in our vehicle that I think will be able to fit the 1.0L since those cup holders do fit larger cups/water bottles. Just thought I’d let you know since I did some research…

Btw, we had our son’s birthday party and I found reusable colorful plastic plates, bowls, cups so that we can use them for our son/girl’s birthday parties and/or camping. We found them at Target and I was very excited to find that they were made in the U.S.A., however the plates aren’t the separated kind like you like. Still good for keeping more trash out of the landfill/s though!

Kimberly said...

I went to the local rei store just yesterday and they were out of the sigg bottles!