Re: [greenyes] Repost-reusable water btls

[EarthGB@no.address]

I believe the question of reusing plastic water bottles is a bit more 
complicated than can be addressed by a general statement like you suggest for summing 
up the report that I re-posted (not originally posted by me, by the way).

Other emails in this & prior discussions of plastic water bottles indicate a 
lot of gray area, not many clear-cut yes or no answers.  Examples:

1.  washing or sterilizing plastic bottles, e.g., PET, can over time degrade 
the plastic and possibly cause leaching of various additives or monomers into 
water or other contents;
2.  some other reusable plastic bottles, e.g., nalgene, were mentioned that 
may or may not pose the same leaching problems;
3.  some sources maintain that problems arise from what's in the water to 
start with, not necessarily the plastic bottles.

The above is a quick & dirty list of some uncertainties mentioned in prior 
discussion.  I am not taking a stand either way on any of these points, because 
I don't have the technical info.  It would be good if some folks with more 
technical expertise would weigh in on this.

Meanwhile, I'm going by Precautionary Principle, in this case "when in doubt, 
do without."  I decided I'd go with resealable glass bottles, wash, & reuse.  
Glass keeps the water cold longer (after chilling in the fridge), which is 
welcome in current heat wave.

Cheers,
Gretchen Brewer
Earth Circle
San Diego