Bottled in Glass Since 1871 | United Bluerise
A tectonic shift was underway in the beverage industry, and it involved much more than water. Pretty much anyone can benefit from having a water bottle they love. Carrying a reusable water bottle is better for the environment and more cost effective than buying bottled water. Bottled-water production in the US alone in 2007 required somewhere between 32 million and 54 million barrels of oil, according to a study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters (PDF). That’s roughly 2,000 times as much as the energy cost of producing tap water, and bottled-water sales in the US have grown to 15.3 billion gallons as of 2021, from 8.76 billion gallons in 2007.
- In the bottled-water trade, it turns out, the real expense lies in the raw materials for making the bottles and in the cost of shipping those bottles to their destination.
- Looking for an easier way to keep track of your water intake each day?
- But if the exposed drinking surface bothers you, several of our other picks—including the Takeya Actives, the Purifyou Premium, and the plastic Thermos Hydration Bottle—have lids that fully cover the drinking surface.
- The finished water product is then placed in a bottle under sanitary conditions and sold to the consumer.
A pick from 2017, the 22-ounce Lifefactory Classic Flip was the best wide-mouth glass bottle available. First, the wide mouth is a bit awkward to drink out of—it feels a lot like drinking out of a jar. Second, although the bottle has alternate lid options, we tested the Flip Cap in 2018, and it leaked. (That lid has since been discontinued.) Third, the standard lid is watertight but made of plastic, a concern for many people seeking glass bottles.
Concerns
Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing so you can make quick and confident buying decisions. Whether it’s finding great products or discovering helpful advice, we’ll help you get it right (the first time). Other bottles performed poorly in our insulation tests, including the 25-ounce Fifty/Fifty Vacuum Insulated Stainless Steel, the Laken Thermo Classic (its contents rose by 20.1 degrees during our test), and the Contigo Autoseal Chill. Several other bottles leaked in our testing and were thus disqualified, including the 21-ounce Healthy Human Stein.
Reasons to Rein in the Bottled Water Industry
But by the early 20th century, the chlorination of municipal water supplies made safe drinking water widely available, and the sale of bottled water declined into a specialty trade. In the 1970s, just 350 million gallons of bottled water were being sold in the United States—about a gallon and a half per person per year. Much of that came in the big five-gallon jugs used in office water coolers; the rest made up a niche market of mineral waters bottled from natural springs. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), bottled water is regulated as a food product by the U.S.
Bottled water, there when you need it.
When you drink from a wide-mouth glass bottle, such as the Lifefactory, it can seem like you’re drinking out of a jar. The downside is that the Purifyou is too narrow to accommodate ice cubes. But a glass bottle doesn’t retain heat or cold anyway, so we decided that wasn’t a problem.