BPA-Free Plastic Water Bottles for Outdoorsmen Have Arrived!

BPA (short for “bisphenol A”) is in the news once again, with more and more studies showing the possible side effects of BPA consumption, which happens when BPA leaches out of a plastic water bottle and into your drinking water.

I haven’t been too worried about BPA, but now that most water bottle makers have been pressured into producing new bottles, and Canada has placed a ban on plastic baby bottles that contain BPA (with the USA proposing something similar,) it might be time to switch to BPA-free bottles.

Typical on-bike water bottles aren’t affected, but the heavy-duty polycarbonate bottles from makers such as Nalgene are getting hit hard with negative publicity because they do contain traces of BPA.

To adapt, companies are reformulating their plastic water bottles to use BPA-free plastics. Nalgene plans to focus on these new bottles and filter out the existing bottles that contain BPA, and CamelBak has also launched a new line of BPA-free bottles.

With this being a “Water Bottle Wednesday” I think we should take a look at these new bottles!

First, the Nalgene Everyday Bottles. If you are a current Nalgene user, these bottles will look familiar - they are tough, translucent plastic bottles that look just like their polycarbonate cousins.

However, the Nalgene “Everyday” line is made of Eastman Tritan copolyester, so the bottles are completely BPA-free! It is still super tough and dishwasher safe, too, as copolyester is very similar to polycarbonate, except that it does not contain BPA.

The 22 oz bottle is said to be sleek and slender so it will even fit into bicycle bottle cages. That doesn’t mean it will be easy to drink from while riding, but at least they’re keeping cyclists in mind!

These bottles can be found at REI, in stores and online:

Nalgene Everyday OTG Tritan Bottle - 22 oz.

Nalgene Everyday Grip-N-Gulp Tritan Water Bottle - Kids 12 oz.

Next, the CamelBak Better Bottles. The “Better Bottle” lineup is CamelBak’s entrance into the BPA-free water bottle market, and it uses the same Eastman Tritan copolyester plastic as the new Nalgene bottles, so it should be just as tough.

What sets CamelBak apart is that they offer not only the classic cap, a typical screw-on cap, but also the neat bite-valve cap, which makes it like drinking from a CamelBak hydration pack.

These bottles can be found at REI, in stores and online:

CamelBak Tritan Better Bottle with Classic Cap - 32 oz.

CamelBak Tritan Better Bottle with Classic Cap - 25 oz.

CamelBak Tritan Better Bottle with Classic Cap - 16 oz.

Now check out the Better Bottle with a CamelBak bite valve style cap:

CamelBak Tritan Better Bottle - 32 oz.

CamelBak Tritan Better Bottle - 25 oz.

CamelBak Tritan Better Bottle - 16 oz.

Want to do some more shopping? Then check REI, because they offer a wide variety of bottles for hiking, bicycling, and everyday use, and they have separated all the BPA-free bottles into their own category!

More shopping links: www.REI.com or go direct to the REI BPA-Free Water Bottles Category