Doing the right thing is rarely as easy as it should be. Sigh. You've kicked your disposable plastic water bottle habit for the sake of the planet, and now the government says your reusable plastic bottle may be toxic. But wait: Don't go back to disposables. Here's the hard scoop on hard plastic, along with a few safe and snazzy alternatives.
First of all, all plastics are not created equal. The one currently under fire is polycarbonate plastic, which contains the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA). Marked with a number 7, it's commonly used in hard water bottles, baby bottles, the lining of some baby food cans, and countless other items in our homes. Not all number 7 plastics have BPA, though it can be hard to know which number 7s have it -- but if the bottle isn't made of transparent, hard, rigid plastic, then probably doesn't have BPA. Environmentalists and health experts have been questioning BPA's safety for years, citing its potential to cause cancer and to disrupt hormones. Now a report by the National Institutes of Health's National Toxicology Program confirms those potential dangers.
What to do? Stop buying polycarbonate bottles and containers, for one, and stop using number 7 - or unmarked - hard plastic food and drink vessels at home. Unfortunately, disposing of them is tricky. Tossing them in a landfill harms the environment. You could find uses for them that don't involve eating or drinking, or send them to a recycling facility that accepts number 7 plastic (not all do), where hopefully they'll be turned into products that aren't food or beverage related.
Finally, find fabulous alternatives. Look for baby bottles made from unbreakable glass or BPA-free plastic, such as those by BornFree (newbornfree.com). Buy baby food in glass jars. Keep your drinking water in a glass pitcher, and tote it in a stainless steel Kleen Kanteen (kleenkanteen.com) or a stylish Sigg (sigg.com).
To learn more about unlucky number 7 plastic bottles and the dangers lurking in plastic bottles of all sorts check out the forthcoming book "Bottlemania" (Bloomsbury, May 2008) by acclaimed environmental writer and Massachusetts native Elizabeth Royte.
[Christie Matheson]
Christie Matheson is the author of "Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style."
