The Advent of Stainless Steel Waterbottles

Due to a time crunch last week, I was unable to post for that week, in turn you will receive two posts from me this week. So be sure to read the following entry after this one to get your fix. :)

Last month I was contacted by the owner of Cynergreen, a company that manufactures and sells various types of stainless steel water bottles in order to promote less waste and earth friendly products (They also do some other great stuff, but I leave it to you to visit the website if you want to know more). I had been noticing over the past couple of months that more and more of the stainless steel type of water bottle appearing around my place of work, and I was wondering if these would feel better and work better than my plastic Rubbermaid water bottle I had been using since the beginning of my going green days. Anyway, they gladly sent me one to give it a trial run. To say up front, these bottles are BPA free, which you may know from a previous entry here on Frugal Green Girl, is something to look out for. I would suspect that since stainless steel is generally treated the same, that most stainless steel water bottles, regardless of manufacturer, are BPA-free as well.

This is the water bottle that I received, which is just the right color for me and this blog. I tested this out for the following week, and came to the following list of pros and cons about using this type of bottle:
Pros:

• The stainless steel does a good job at keeping water cooler than my plastic Rubbermaid bottle, or in my mind it felt cooler at least.
  
• This bottle also had a convenient carabiner for easier carrying.
  
• Despite its wide mouth opening, spilling was rare for me (and that's something you don't want people to see at the office).
• Holds a good amount of fluid (20 oz). However, stainless steel bottles come in all shapes and sizes. My boss has a gigantor bottle that holds 48 oz.
  

Cons:

• Something about metal in my mouth that I don't like...I don't know how other people feel about this, but metal on my teeth sometimes gives me a goosebump-like feeling.
• I really didn't like the twist-off top. I would spend a lot of time trying to either get it off, or trying to put it back on correctly so it fit in the alignment of the lines in the metal to hold it on. This seems to be a common theme among all stainless steel water bottles, so if it doesn't matter to you as much, then there is little here to worry about.
  

Truthfully, I still use my plastic Rubbermaid one over the stainless steel bottle, but I will still use the stainless steel water bottle occasionally. The point is, if you aren't using a form of reusable water bottle by now, you should take its value seriously. Not only are you saving the planet by reusing materials, but you are also saving money by not purchasing bottled water and using water from either the tap or a Brita/Pur pitcher.