Nalgene to phase out hard plastic bottles

[singletrackmind]

We can recycle them here (no 7 plastic) but like Knotted I'm not tossing mine into the bin just yet. I won't be buying more and my son is getting a different bottle rather than sharing mine but that's it for me so far.

[sgtiger]

Yeah, I'm actually still using mine. The question was more rhetorical than anything else at this time. I'd have to say I'm more concerned with what my brother told me about plastic molecules trading places with food molecules when you nuke food in the microwave. He says he read somewhere that some reaserchers found plastic molecules suspended in fat cells in people that they(the reasearchers) believe got there because of it. I'd like to be able to read the actual paper, though, before I put any stock in it.

[mupedalpusher]

Melalvai's advisor and another researcher in my department are doing this research. They are constantly testing various bottles for this stuff and scolding us for using bottles that might contain it! Pretty cool that companies are finally taking precautions to make the bottles safe.

[sgtiger]

Yeah, I agree, it's awesome that Nalgene is voluntarily pulling them off the shelves.

[KnottedYet]

Can one of you two who work with the stuff please post some links to some real science? (summarized, but not media-hysteric?)

Last study I read put the clear Nalgene bottles at the TOP of the safe bottle list, right under SIGG steel. (BTW, squeezable plastic sports bottles were at the bottom, very bad for you.) That was a couple years ago, and what convinced me to toss my ancient lab Nalgene and jump on the polycarb bandwagon.

Edit to add: i still suspect I get more plastic aromatics from the other stuff in my life than I do from my Nalgene. Plastic sealants on my teeth, plastic bite-splint being ground to bits between my teeth every night, plastics in my clothes, foods packaged in plastic...

ETA: found this stuff http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/technical/bpaInfo.html http://www.bisphenol-a.org/whatsNew/20080205.html

[Jolt]

I'll be interested to see if they have any kind of program for sending the Lexan bottles back to Nalgene--doesn't seem that likely though. Maybe the best thing is to think of other uses for them if they can't be easily recycled. Any ideas? I have a couple of those bottles sitting on the shelf and am thinking of using them to put gorp and the like in for hiking trips. Solids shouldn't really pick up BPA from the plastic like liquids do, I don't think. At least if they're not stored for long periods in the bottles.

[KnottedYet]

Geocaches!
The BpA Nalgene widemouth bottles would make great geocaches! www.geocaching.com

meanwhile, here's Nalgene's website of the various materials they use for the different lines of containers (click on the names on the left). Tells you which have BpA and phlatates and which don't. http://www.nalgenechoice.com/index.html

[Brandi]

We are going to use our's in our garden. When we mix stuff for the plants we will use those bottles for that. I have decided to just not use them. To me it is not worth it. I mean it is bad enough we have to many chemicals already in our life now i have to worry about what I drink my water out of.
My sister in law died at 34 leaving my brother with a 3 year old son to raise on he's own. She died of a type of breast cancer they said was environmental. She had to many chemicals in her body. They tried to fight it and changed the way they lived but it didn't help.
So I am cautious becuase of that.