Kind of a rant — I drink water and flavored-water beverages, and I don’t wanna buy 24-packs of water and trust my local municipality to recycle. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Either way, it’s not recycle, it’s “reduce, reuse, recycle.” I’ll drink a Gatorade (Zero) and reuse it a few times and then toss it.
But if I want a reusable bottle — there’s one by Aladdin (Thermos) I like, and one by Zojirushi, I’ve bought two of each over the years. Just tossed the Zojirushi. Zojirushi is a Japanese brand, very high quality, but a bit over-engineered. It’s got this rubber gasket and plug that, you can clean them daily, they get black spots. Not sure if it’s mould or what, but it’s kinda gross and I don’t like it. The Aladdin/Thermos one is a bit better, didn’t think there was any mould anywhere until I dropped it, the cap flew out, mould farm inside! Nowhere that touched the beverage so that was nice. But I’m kinda done with both of them. I would rather just waste plastic than risk drinking from a mouldy reusable cup.
Are there reusable bottles that aren’t mould farms?
I’ve had a Hydroflask wide mouth for about 7 or 8 years now and I’ve never had any mold issues with it. At least once a week after cleaning with soap, I pour in maybe half a cup of white vinegar, put the cap on, and shake it around, then leave it for about 15 minutes or so, then rinse it out fully. Never had any issues with mold on the bottle or in the cap. I use a bottle brush I got from the baby section of the supermarket to clean it out.
I’ve used hydro flasks and cleaned them very frequently but have still had contamination issues that jack my stomach up (only filtered water, never anything else). Switched back to a Nalgene bottle with a simple top and the same cleaning regime (or even more lax) with no issues. Sucks because I really liked my hydro flasks, but I like not feeling like I am being stabbed better. Not sure what the deal with them is, but they breed bad stuff on the quick.
oh man thats unfortunate. I’ve never had any issues with mine, but I’m glad the Nalgene worked out better for you.