By now, all of us should be drinking from reusable water bottles. Let’s be completely real. At this point, to see a celebrity holding a plastic water bottle (or anyone–especially if they have millions of followers on Instagram or in life) is actually gross. Unless you’re somewhere where the tap water isn’t safe, there’s no reason for that sort of tone-deaf behavior. We’re all aware by now of the impacts that single-use plastic water bottles have on the environment, causing problems everywhere from landfills to marine habitats. Reducing bottled water usage will diminish some of the most concerning issues like ocean pollution and chemical leakage from bottles in landfills. Healing the earth and ending this plastic insanity is one important reason behind the creation of our beloved and eco-friendly glass water bottles. 

With so many metal water bottles on the market, and more and more of them trying to be the new cute girl in class, you might ask yourself why glass is better. 

High Borosilicate Glass Bottle with Stainless Lid

Glass Doesn’t Leach Chemicals

We tend to assume that metal bottles on the market are stainless steel, but this isn’t always the case. Many of them are made from aluminum, a neurotoxin that will never leave your body (like Mercury or lead) and is known to lead to Alzheimer’s Disease. If your bottle is aluminum, it absolutely needs to be lined with something—most likely plastic. So, you’re still basically drinking from plastic. And you’re increasing the chance of exposing your body to heavy metals if the lining becomes compromised (which can happen quite easily without you noticing since you can’t see inside a metal bottle). High-quality glass, on the other hand, is perfectly safe—no liners required. Best of all, there is absolutely no aluminum or BPA. Although many metal bottles are labeled as “BPA-Free,” they often replace this substance with other chemicals (BPS or BPF) that are also hormone-disrupting and have the same harmful effects. Is your brain hurting yet? Seriously, why would anyone ever take the risk? Be safe and just go with glass.

Glass Bottles Are More Eco-Friendly

So assuming you skip aluminum bottles because of everything we just said, even stainless steel has downfalls too. The major driving factor behind the reusable water bottle movement is the ultimate goal of reducing pollution. Unfortunately, harmful chemicals, like ash, sulfur and carbon, are a byproduct of factory production. This pollution is no exception when it comes to making stainless steel bottles that emit high levels of carbon during production. Although stainless steel is *technically* 100 percent recyclable, there actually isn’t enough material to recycle easily. As a result, it means that new stainless steel bottles need to be continuously produced.

Glass products, however, are almost always made with at least partially recycled materials. Glass is 100 percent recyclable. It has an unlimited life and can be melted and recycled endlessly to make new glass products without diminishing the quality. 

Water From Glass Bottles Tastes Better

This is just facts. Metal water bottles tend to have that, well, metallic flavor. You know the one we’re talking about. (And if you don’t, just try drinking from glass exclusively for a couple of weeks straight and then go back to metal–it’ll taste like there are pennies in your water. Ew, David.) The last thing you want when you’re drinking from your water bottle is cold, refreshing, wait-did-I-drop-change-in-this-thing, funky metal taste. When it comes to glass water bottles vs. stainless steel, the way your bottle makes your water taste is an important factor. Glass also doesn’t retain flavor at all. So, you can infuse your water one day, put lemon in it the next and it won’t taste of those things after it’s been washed. Glass is chosen time and time again as a superior container because it tastes like nothing and it keeps liquids pure and untainted by weird residual flavors.

Go for the More Durable Option

You may be surprised to learn that glass is actually the more durable material when it comes to water bottles. True, stainless steel bottles can last for years, but they’re so easy to dent and scratch if you’re an active, outdoorsy person (or lbh, even if you’re an inactive indoorsy person) that carries your bottle with you everywhere. And, once dropped, dents and scratches are not only ugly, but they often lead to a bottle that won’t stand up straight. Which is annoying and turns them into trash pretty fast. 

Dishwasher Safe!

We all look for convenience when shopping for products, and any items or dishware that are not labeled as dishwasher safe can be majorly inconvenient. Yes, we know, it doesn’t take very long to hand wash one bottle, but it can become a PITA when you have to wash it so often. Plus, when we’re in a rush, we really want to just grab our clean bottle, fill it up and go. Most stainless steel or metal bottles are not dishwasher safe, meaning you need to constantly handwash them. Our glass water bottles, on the other hand, can go through the wash with or without the sleeve on the bottle itself. 

Glass Bottles Over Everything

You’re shopping for a reusable water bottle—yay! Good for you. You’re definitely doing your part to save the Earth and reduce plastic pollution. But, you may not have realized the differences between metal and glass water bottles. Now it’s up to you to make an informed decision about how you drink water. 

TL;DR: Glass is a no brainer—it tastes better by a mile, it won’t drop once and dent or scratch to the point of ugly, it’s far nicer to the environment than any metal bottle, it’s dishwasher safe, and it won’t leach toxic chemicals or heavy metals into your water. Thank you for coming to our TED Talk.