Klean Kanteen
by Celine Ruben-Salama, New York, NY on 01. 3.07
Picture: Stickeen Photography - Guest Post By: Wendy Dembo, Cool Hunting
A few years ago college kids started to use colored hard-plastic bottles to carry water as a more eco-friendly alternative to bottled water. The plastic in deli water bottles is not stable for multi-use purposes and never degrades in landfills. Now there are concerns about hard-plastic bottles leaching toxins, especially into hot water. The hip kids in college have recycled their plastic bottles and replaced them with Klean Kanteens, which are made out of ultra-light stainless steel.
The “Kanteens” are sleek, non-leaching and durable. They come in a myriad of sizes from 12 OZ ($17.95) which is perfect for little hands, or your purse, 18 OZ ($15.95) which is great for the gym and the jumbo size 40 ouncer ($23.95) when you are really thirsty.
What sets Kleen Kanteen a part from the other stainless “bottles” is the innovation of their caps. They come with sports tops, flat tops and loop caps. They even have a sippy lid (yikes, the plastic of baby bottles is being questioned as well). Replace a plastic bottle for someone you love, who might take a while to do it on their own. Best of all, they are much better for the environment and you than bottled water ::Kleen Kanteen. See also: ::The TH Interview: Michelle Kalberer of Klean Kanteen
This post confuses a couple of issues by linking to the earlier post on PET bottles and antimony. The polycarbonate bottles favored by college kids are a different type of plastic entirely and don't use antimony as a catalyst. There are health concerns about estrogen analogs (not estrogen) leaching into the contents of polycarbonate bottles, but that's a different category of danger than heavy metals.
I'm not advocating for or against the Kleen Kanteen. They look interesting, particularly from the perspective of what happens to the product after its useful life is up (an area where polycarbonate is weak). But we shouldn't allow a misunderstanding of which issues are in play to inform purchasing decisions that might foreshorten the lives of otherwise useful containers and thus contribute to the waste stream.
what does "deli water bottles" mean?
a "deli water bottle" is what a New Yorker calls a bottle of water purchased in a deli- like Evian or Desani, that normal people would call "bottled water" and purchase in a 'convenience store' or 'supermarket'.
What about other metallic bottles such as Sigg Bottles? Are these a safe alternative to plastic??
Why the hell do americans carry water with them everywhere? It's really annoying, a total fad.