Want one easy thing you can do this Earth Day to make an environmental difference locally and worldwide?
Stop buying throw away, one-use plastic water bottles and start using a reusable bottle. Estimates range from 30 to 50 billion disposable water bottles are used in the U.S. each year and less than 20% are recycled.
Wilmette Junior High School went bottle free in April. Check out this cool sculpture made from just 3 days worth of bottles thrown out in their cafeteria.
These reusable water bottles are all BPA free, dishwasher safe and either kid cool or adult sophisticated.
Bkr
What We Love:
- Chic design; love the taste of drinking water from glass
- Bkr will replace if you accidentally break the glass water bottle
- Silicone sleeve is dishwasher safe (top-rack)
A Little Less Thrilled With:
- Difficult to clean because of small opening
Cost: $28
Available online at mybkr.com and soon at select retailers
Rive
What We Love:
- Gorgeous design, easy to drink out of the top
- Pretty for sitting on a desk (and stays sealed so it won’t spill on your computer!)
A Little Less Thrilled With:
- Chipped the glass just putting the lid back on it
- Doesn’t hold enough water
- Didn’t fit in my car’s cup holder
- Too tippy and fragile for kids
Cost: $25
Available online at riveusa.com
Sip N’ Go
What We Love:
- It folds up so you can stick it in your purse when you’ve finished all the water.
- There’s a carabiner clip so you can attach it to a backpack or the strap of your bag.
- Easy to clean (just put it in the top rack of the dishwasher).
- Has a good, tight seal on top.
- Has space for writing your name in permanent marker (great for kids!)
A Little Less Thrilled With:
- Nothing
Cost: $8
Available online at buysipngo.com
S’well
What We Love:
- Drinks stay ice cold or piping hot for hours. Coffee I got in the morning was still hot—not warm, but hot—after lunch. The double layer of aluminum means the bottle itself isn’t hot or cold to the touch.
- An elegant, streamlined design in a pretty, dusty color wins it points in the looks category, but it’s also quite tough—after dropping it repeatedly throughout the day (on purpose, of course, for test purposes), there were a few dings in the paint but no serious damage or spillage.
- S’Well donates 10% of profits to WaterAid to improve access to clean water in impoverished areas.
A Little Less Thrilled With:
- The insulation works almost too well—even leaving the top off the bottle, tea was still too hot to drink 20 minutes after making it.
- There’s no clip or handle on the bottle, so carrying it can be difficult, especially if you’ve got your hands full. It’s a little heavier than some water bottles, so I wouldn’t recommend it for sport use.
- A narrow neck makes it a little more difficult to clean.
Cost: $35
Available at: store.swellbottle.com/
Vapur
What We Love:
- Portability—small enough to fit in a purse even when full
- Freezable
- Can write your kid’s name on it
A Little Less Thrilled With:
- Hard to fill
- Hard to open/close lid
Cost: ($10 for .5 liter/$16 for 2-pack .4 liter)
Available at vapur.us and lots of local retailers.