Why carry a reusable water bottle? 

There are so many benefits that come from carrying a reusable bottle on a daily basis, as well as when traveling, playing sports, going to the gym, and when camping or hiking. With a reusable water bottle at your side, you can refill your bottle wherever you go with fresh water or your liquid of choice. Not to mention, you can significantly help reduce the amount of plastic bottles ending up in landfills and in the ocean, take more control over the quality of your drinking water, and have the ability to take warm or cold beverages along for the day.

These are a few of the many reasons why using a reusable bottle is a practical, economical, and rewarding habit for everyone to develop. To go further into detail, we created a list of our seven most important reasons to carry a reusable water bottle. 

7 Reasons to Carry A Reusable Water Bottle

1. Reduce waste from single-use plastic bottles

Single-use plastic water bottles are thrown away by the billion per year, just in the United States. That's 35 billion per year, to be exact. These numbers are staggering, and with just 23% recycling rates, it's no wonder that plastic bottles are filling up landfills and our oceans. The creation of these plastic bottles involves a heavily polluting production process, and they biodegrade extremely slowly, taking hundreds of years to break down naturally in the environment. If you think about it, the entire life-cycle of these bottles is extremely damaging to the environment, from production to disposal. And for what, a bottle that is made just to be thrown away? It really doesn't make much sense at all.

By choosing a reusable bottle, we greatly reduce our carbon footprint and take a huge step toward reducing plastic waste. Just imagine how many single-use bottles a person could use in a year to drink the recommended eight cups of water per day! To get an idea, one filter for a water pitcher, which usually lasts about 2-3 months, can replace as many as 300 standard 16.9 oz disposable bottles. With a reusable bottle and a good water filter, you can save hundreds of disposable bottles per year from going in the trash.

2. Reusable bottles are better for your health

Single-use plastic bottles are not only causing major harm to the planet, but they also can be bad for your health, due to the leaching of chemicals into the water stored inside of these bottles. Disposable plastic bottles are usually made from PET (polyterephthlate) plastic, which has been shown to leach antimony into water, especially if the bottles are left in hot environments for extended periods of time. Antimony is considered hazardous to human health, causing headache and gastrointestinal disturbances upon exposure. 

Besides, there are no guarantees as to what is actually in the water in any "brand name" of single-use water bottles, despite advertising claims. 

In a report titled "Take Back the Tap," Food & Water Watch sites that according to their research, 64 percent of bottled water comes from municipal tap water sources in the United States. (5) This means that people are being duped into paying high prices for water that they could get from their own sink.

What's more, in a study from Canada, it was shown that tap water had less bacteria than bottled water, and some bottled water actually contained surprisingly high levels of bacteria. This might be due to the stagnant nature of bottled water, which can be sitting in a warehouse for long periods of time at ambient or warm temperatures. The researchers who performed the study concluded that bottled water did not live up to its claims of purity, and that more stringent controls need to be put on bottled water manufacturers.   

3. You control what goes in your bottle

This leads to the next point, which is that with a reusable bottle, you control exactly what goes into the bottle. We recommend using a quality water filter or refilling your bottles at a local filtered water dispensing machine, if your community offers as such. Or if you're really lucky, maybe you even have access to a personal well or a nearby spring.

Water is so important to our health, so it's best to understand what risks might be in the tap water in your community before buying a filter. You'll want to make sure that you are filtering for any specific hazards to your area, such as lead in some places in the US. The good thing about tap water is that your city is required by law to tell you what possible contaminants are found in the water supply, which is not mandatory for bottled water companies. Unless you live in an extremely pristine environment, we do not recommend refilling your bottles with water directly from the tap. There are many types of water filters depending on your needs, from charcoal filtration stand-pitchers to sink-mountable filters, or even filters that can purify the water for an entire house.

In any case, a reusable bottle allows you to take control of the water quality that you are consuming, rather than trusting the shiny advertising campaigns of bottled water companies.

4. Save money on water and drinks while out

Another good point is that using a reusable water bottle is actually much less expensive than buying single-use bottles of water. Buying bottled water can get costly and fast, coming in at about $200 per year for the average American. One single reusable bottle costs about $30-$50 on average, which will last you for years of usage. In fact, the price of bottled water is largely paying for the plastic bottle itself. A gallon of bottled water costs about $9.50, nearly 2,000 times the price of tap water in most cities. 

You can also save money on coffee and tea while out by carrying a reusable bottle. Most coffee shops offer a small discount for carrying your own reusable bottle, cup, or mug to fill. Besides, if you frequent local coffee shops, the baristas will definitely get to know you (and your usual order) better!

5. One bottle will last you for years of usage

If you're anything like us, sustainability, minimalism, and zero-waste goals are important to you. We're into minimalism believe that it greatly improves the quality of life by removing clutter from your physical space and your mind, and allows us to truly value the things that we do have. 

Being that our personal possessions are less numerous, we can more clearly determine the things that are important to us, and take good care of them to make them last. A reusable bottle is more than just a bottle, it's your everyday companion. It develops personality and character the more that it is used, and with daily cleaning, can be maintained for years. 

6. Choose the bottle that best fits your needs

This leads to the next reason why it's great to carry a reusable bottle, that you can choose the best bottle for your needs. Instead of just thoughtlessly buying disposable water bottles and taking to-go paper coffee cups, take a minute to really think through what you need on a daily basis, and even about your personal preferences. For example, some people greatly enjoy the taste of beverages out of glass, not just limited to water but also coffee, juice, or smoothies. Others might prefer to keep a cup of coffee warm for hours in a stainless steel insulated mug, or to take warm or cold liquids out hiking and exploring outdoors. Others still might love to drink citrus-infused water during the day.

Whatever your needs or wants may be, there is a reusable bottle that's perfect for you. Having your ideal bottle by your side will make it more enjoyable to stay hydrated while drinking your favorite beverages throughout the day.

7. Keep track of how much you drink

If you are doing your best to stay motivated and physically active, we applaud you! In our view, it's incredibly important for our health to live an active lifestyle and to exercise for at least 30 minutes daily in one way or another, whether you prefer outdoor sport, walking, or running, or indoor training at the gym. In order to stay adequately hydrated, tracking your daily water intake can be important, especially while active.

A reusable bottle can help you keep track of how much water you drink, instead of drinking from a bunch of single-use bottles and tossing them when they're finished.

Many reusable bottles come with a ruler on the side of the bottle in milliliters and ounces, so that you can easily see how much liquid you have inside of your bottle. Knowing the size of your bottle, you can track the number of times you refill your bottle throughout the day and know exactly the amount of water you have consumed.

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To conclude, these are our top seven reasons to use a reusable bottle, but there are many more that could be added to the list. Really, we can't think of one good reason why not to use a reusable bottle! 

If you have any other ideas, questions, or comments, don't hesitate to let us know below!