Posts tagged bottle
My Ditch the Plastic Challenge
02 months ago
During February I was challenged by SIGG to ditch the plastic – a challenge for which they sent me one of their metal bottles with an active top.
When I first agreed to the challenge, before I wrote my post introducing it to you, I thought it would be no problem at all – easy even. I hardly ever buy bottles of water, I am more than happy to drink water from the tap; at home I have a water filter on my tap in the kitchen and a water filter in my fridge, at work we have a mains fed water cooler, and I use a sports bottle when exercising. Times I do purchase or drink from single use bottles of water include when on long car journeys, when away from home, and when at work events.
I realised when writing my introductory post that ditching single use plastic bottles of water should be pretty easy, it’s other things that are a problem for me; Coca Cola, Fanta, Lilt, Lucozade, Innocent Smoothies, Copella Apple Juice, that sort of thing. These are drinks I will happily have daily – think Boots Meal Deal, or simply popping to the Spar because I fancy something cold and full of flavour to drink during the afternoon. When I think about it all those bottles cost me a fortune; at least a pound at a time.
I also drink a lot of cordials. I enjoy water on its own but it’s even better with some flavour, and is a great way to supress my incredibly sweet tooth (did you see that BBC Bang Goes the Theory on Sugar the other day – eek!!). And then of course when I did share my challenge with you, a friend quite rightly commented, simply, “don’t forget milk”. And yes, milk comes in plastic bottles too doesn’t it? And I drink a lot of milk – in tea, on its own, on cereal.
So, as you know, I chose to limit the challenge to individual sized bottles – 500ml/600ml/.75l or so – the sort of thing that I could replace like for like with my SIGG reusable bottle. I thought that was me being fair to myself. I thought that was enough.
Did I Manage It?
Yes I did! I can honestly say that during February I purchased a grand total of zero individual bottles of water, Coke, juice, and anything else that counts. I stuck rigidly to using my SIGG bottle or from a glass/mug/paper cup. I got used to carrying the large SIGG bottle with its Active Top around with me everywhere, and made good use of it everywhere I went. I refilled it from the tap or water filter, and even in Lush in Lincoln where you can refill a reusable bottle for free (see my tapwater.org post).
Actually it’s been totally fine. There was more than one occasion when at about 3pm I opened my bag, removed my purse, took out a couple of quid and was about to leave for the corner shop to get come Coke when I spotted the SIGG bottle on my desk and remembered I wasn’t supposed to be doing that. I probably saved a good £20 over the month on that sort of thing, although I’m not sure what I did with it because I don’t seem to have any cash left over.
It wasn’t easy all of the time. If you go into a café (or the canteen at work) and want a cold drink rather than a cup of tea or coffee, everything comes in a plastic bottle. Or a plastic cup. Think about it – Starbucks, Costa, Café Nero etc have iced drinks in plastic cups or bottles of juice, squash, water, Coke etc. In bars and restaurants it’s fine as Coke comes in a glass… but in coffee shops and even in the work canteen it’s a hot drink in a paper cup or nothing. Some places provide tap water with no problem, but it’s never obvious. I also noticed that nowhere seems to sell cans any more. In fact I noticed in Tesco that Coke now tell 330ml Coke in plastic bottles rather than cans. I found that very surprising. I wonder why? I guess it’s because it is resealable with the bottle cap, making it more convenient.
As a result of this challenge I’ve drunk loads more water than usual, which is saying something as drinking enough has never been a problem of mine! I noticed a couple of things that may or may not be completely related such as my skin improving and my energy levels increasing… I say may or may not as I also upped my exercise levels in February and also ate far more fresh fruit and vegetables too, so those will have had an effect too.
Since the end of February I’ve not done badly either. That SIGG bottle is very well used and my water intake is still much higher than it has been in the past. I admit I have succumbed to plastic bottles on a couple, maybe three or four occasions. All for convenience. One was when I was away for work for a couple of nights and ended up purchasing a milkshake in a plastic bottle (a Bounty one, new to me and really rather nice!) because I really wanted something that wasn’t water and I wasn’t up for sitting in a very noisy busy bar on my own. The second was earlier today – I had a Boots Meal Deal after a couple of months off; I stood in the shop looking at the options and the prices and realised it was cheaper for me to buy my chosen wrap and bag of crisps with a drink rather than without. So I had an Innocent Smoothie, and I enjoyed it after not having them for so long. But a couple of bottles in nearly two months isn’t bad is it? As long as I don’t get back into the habit again.
Now the Challenge is Done
SIGG have converted me; I have every intention of continuing to avoid buying individual plastic bottles wherever possible. That bottle they sent is pretty much permanently with me when I’m somewhere where no glass will be available. It feels good to have got into a positive habit – good for me, good for my purse, good for the environment.
Ditching the plastic when it is individual bottles is fine. I might have been a bit tempted by nice looking drinks but it was fairly easy to stick to using my SIGG bottle and not give in. But if I was to ditch the plastic properly and get rid of 2l bottles of Coke and lemonade, bottles of cordial, bottles of milk, large bottles of nice apple juice, and anything and everything else, I would seriously struggle. And forget drinks, what about fabric conditioner, toilet bleach, tomato ketchup, slide oil for my trombone, washing up liquid, and all those other necessary things that come in plastic bottles or not at all? Things I need come in plastic bottles. Things that are not quite so easy to avoid as bottled water.
And of course I am not completely naïve; I realise that deciding to ditch the plastic myself makes hardly any difference to the Earth. It would take a great movement to reduce the demand for plastic bottles, they are a part of everyday life for many. There are also other things like plastic bottles that cause as much damage to our world, and I am probably equally as guilty of using those.
Those things aside, I feel good thanks to the SIGG Ditch the Plastic challenge, and I am very pleased that I was invited to take part. Thanks SIGG, you’ve made me realise once again that tap water is great (filtered and chilled is better!), and that I don’t need to spend money on single use plastic bottles that just end up in the bin.
Disclaimer: SIGG selected me to ditch single use plastic bottles and replace with SIGG bottles to help drive their online social media activity.
Review: SIGG Active Top 0.75l Bottle
02 months ago
I’ll let you know how I’ve got on with my ditch the plastic challenge in a few days, but first I wanted to give the SIGG bottle I was given a proper review post.
This is the SIGG Active Top 0.75l Performance Purple bottle. It is a 750ml metal bottle with a plastic lid and straw that twists to open/close. To get liquid flowing up the straw simply sucking isn’t enough, you have to give the top a little bite where the ridges are marked, which means this is ideal for using wherever you might tip the bottle – so walking, cycling, running, in the car, in your work bag – anywhere where you’ll be on the move. This little video explains…
The bottle looks fab and it’s so useful. I’ve used it very nearly every day – at work when sat at my desk, when I have meetings all over and don’t get back to my desk in between, at home on the exercise bike, when doing my exercise DVD, when at band rehearsals, when on long journeys in the car. I fill it with water from the tap, squash, juice, lemonade. Since I’ve had it I’ve drunk even more water than before, not that I ever need persuading to have a drink, but because it is there, because it is accessible, I have drunk extra.
I am totally sold on metal bottles. The problem with plastic ones is two fold. The first is that they scratch, dent, and get misshapen fairly easily. Ok so metal bottles can be scratched and dented too but after four weeks of constant use my SIGG bottle is as good as new. The second is that they get stained with both colour and flavour – that is, if you fill one with blackcurrant squash and leave it for a day you end up with a slightly purpled bottle that tastes a little of blackcurrant forever. You don’t have that problem with metal bottles, they are much more easily cleaned.
The lid on this bottle is genius. I did wonder at first – it’s really only a straw after all – but I really like it. It’s great if you’re clumsy like me and are liable to knock over your bottle; even in the open position the was barely any leakage in my bag when it fell over and got jiggled around, and it doesn’t spill when you’re walking and drinking at the same time. And I much prefer this straw like action to the traditional sports tops – this gives you a really good flow of water, you can drink in satisfying mouthfuls, where as I have always found traditional sports tops leave me wanting more and quite often getting a mouthful of air rather than water.
This is actually a massive bottle. It’s biggest downside is that when full it’s very heavy. But I get through the 750ml quickly so it’s not heavy for long! I think, I know, if I was to buy a second one – and I am tempted – I would buy either the 0.5l or the 0.6l version, and refill it more often. I think for carrying around, something a bit smaller would be more appropriate.
I took my bottle when we went to visit our God Daughter earlier I’m February. She “found” it in my bag and as a result of the conversation that followed her mum, my friend Bec, ordered one. Hows that for recommendation?! She said:
Having seen Splodz’s SIGG bottle and then looked at them online I decided despite the cost I needed to get one. I would be the first to admit I usually drink nowhere near enough liquid during the day and so I figured if I spent out on a bottle I would feel like I had to use it!
I have been using my Active Top bottle 600ml for over a week now and on day one noted that I drank nearly four pints across the day (in addition to my coffee intake!), and by my reckoning that’s at least three pints more than usual. I have to say I’ve noticed a marked improvement in my energy levels which I’ve very much welcomed.
The design itself is fab; the “notches” in the lid for Close, Air, Open, Clean makes it, in my opinion, perfectly designed, and with its “bite to open” seal even when I don’t remember to click to close it is yet to leak or spill.
I thought it would be safe from my 19 month old (I’m used to sharing all my drinks), but even just a week in she is already beginning to get some drink out of it. Once she has got the hang of it I will be investing in a bottle for her too.
It could be said that this is just a sports bottle and a very expensive one at that, but I have to say I’m thoroughly impressed with it and it definitely helps me drink throughout the day. It’s fit for all purposes in my opinion.
As you can see the SIGG Active Top bottle is a hit. I think it’s one of those things you need to see or try to get a feel for the quality, the great design, and the incredibly useful top.
I really like my SIGG Active Top Performance Purple bottle, it’s well used and has become part of my routine when leaving the house. There’s a massive range of styles, colours and sizes, and I keep having a look on the website considering a second one. I think I at least need to get one for LincsGeek so he’s got a decent one too. They are not cheap, though, but considering the money saved on disposable bottles and the health gained thanks to drinking loads more I’d say it’s money well spent.
Disclaimer: I was sent this SIGG bottle so I could take part in their Ditch the Plastic campaign. I have not been told what to say and have been honest.
Ditch the Plastic with SIGG
33 months ago
I have been challenged by SIGG to ditch the plastic this February – more specifically, to stop buying single use plastic bottles for one month.
The fact is that in the UK we just don’t need to buy bottled water. We have clean running water in our homes, in our offices, in our schools, in our high streets. Bottled water is expensive and creates a lot of waste – tap water plus a reusable bottle is a much cheaper and environmentally friendly way to drink.
To help they have sent me one of their reusable bottles to use. It’s a 750ml “Active Top Performance Bottle” that has a special drinking system – ok, it’s a straw with a valve on the top. The stainless steel construction keeps drinks cool and fresh, and this particular bottle is suitable for still or carbonated drinks. I’ll review the bottle properly at the end of the month, but so far so good.
I’ve been using my SIGG bottle when I’m exercising, in the car, in the office and when I’m out and about. I fill it up with water from the tap or our Britta water filter when at home, or from the water cooler at work (which is plumbed into the water supply, it doesn’t use bottled water). I have no intention of buying any bottles of water this month, and so far so good.
To be fair I already try to use glasses or reusable bottles for my water consumption where possible; we don’t buy bottled water for drinking at home and I don’t need to buy it when at work. But we do often buy it when travelling in the car or when we’re out for the day – I must be more organised and make sure I fill up a reusable bottle or two before we go.
I do spend each week on other single use bottled drinks though – Diet Coke, Dr Pepper, Lilt, and so on. I will more than happily buy these when I’m out and about or at work and don’t even think about them being the same plastic as bottled water comes in. I should stop buying all 500ml bottles and use either my SIGG bottle or my glass for my soft drinks.
And this of course opens other questions. The challenge is about single use bottles. As opposed to reusable ones. Does ditching the plastic also include cordials? Does it include large 2l bottles of fizzy drinks? I’m not sure how far to take this yet. I wouldn’t want to give up flavoured drinks completely, that would make February very boring. I think it’s ok to buy large bottles, even if they are plastic – I think SIGG are encouraging me to use my bottle instead of buying water, which is readily available out of a tap. That’s how I’m going to understand it anyway. Agreed?
Do you buy bottled water regularly? What about 500ml bottles of Coke? Would you consider ditching the plastic to save money and the environment?
Disclaimer: SIGG selected me to ditch single use plastic bottles and replace with SIGG bottles to help drive their online social media activity.
Review: J2O Fridge Pack
04 months ago
I am a BzzAgent and this is a Bzz Review…
I was recently sent on one of the new J2O Fridge Packs to try at home. I am already a fan of J2O, I enjoy the juice drinks very much and, even though they are very sweet, they are something nice to have when I go out. I have been known to buy the packs of bottles from the supermarket to put in the fridge at home, but not very often.
J2O now comes in cans. To begin with I wasn’t really sure what the point of that was. Glass bottles give the drink some sophistication, make it a bit special, and of course look great. But when I thought about it I realised that cans are more every day, and that’s what J2O are trying to do, make this a more every day at home drink.
The cardboard box is designed to go in the fridge with the cans inside, making them easily accessible without having them rolling about the place (a problem I always have when I buy the bottles – they are fine when in that cardboard sleeve, but as soon as you take one out the bottles have to all sit on the shelf taking up space and rolling about). I appreciate fridge packs, they do make the fridge more organised and mean you can reach in a grab a can easily. Each pack comes with six 250ml cans – they are the size of Red Bull cans – which means you get slightly less drink in these (275ml in the bottles); but the price of six cans is about the same as four bottles so you are getting better value here too. I expect cans are cheaper to make than glass bottles, and probably easier to recycle so the move to cans does make sense. Oh and of course with cans you don’t need a bottle opener!
Taste wise, well I have to say I do think the drink tastes a bit different. It’s strange how the container can have an effect on the flavour. It seems thinner somehow, I’m not sure. This is easily solved, though, just pour it into a glass!
At the moment you can get Orange and Passion Fruit and Apple and Raspberry flavours in the Fridge Pack cans in Tesco. I hope they become more widely available as I wouldn’t mind being able to get these more regularly.
Disclaimer: I am a BzzAgent and was asked to take part in the J2O Fridge Pack campaign, which meant I was sent some drinks to try at home in return for telling other people what I think about them. I have not been told what to write and I have been no less honest as a result.
Lifebottle Competition
7311 months ago
This competition is now closed. All comments before 8pm on the closing date have been approved and the winners will be announced in a new blog post in the next few days. Good luck!!
The lovely people at tapwater.org have been very generous and have given me six lifebottles to give away.
That means that six Splodz Blogz readers can have one of these lovely stainless steel reusable water bottles. Have a look at my recent review for my thoughts.
To enter please comment on this blog post telling me something about you and water… an anecdote about an experience, why you like or dislike it, what you like to do with or in it… (keep it clean, of course!).
This competition will run for one week from today, so you have until Friday 29th June to enter. I will choose the winners using my usual random number generator method and announce them as soon as I can after the competition closes.
The Rules
- This competition is open to UK residents only.
- You must be aged 18 years old or over at the time of entry.
- The competition closes at 8pm on Friday 29th June 2012.
- Entry is by making a relevant comment on this post.
- Entrants must include a valid email address in the box provided (will not be published). This is so I can contact you if you win.
- You can only enter once. If you post more than one comment only your first will count as entry into the competition.
- Members of my immediate family cannot enter (sorry!).
- The winner will be picked at random from all eligible entries and be announced on Splodz Blogz soon after the closing date.
- The prize is one of six 350ml Lifebottles from tapwater.org. Girl winners will get pink, boy winners will get black.
- The winners must respond to their email from Splodz Blogz within two days or I reserve the right to re-draw.
- Your details will only be used for the purpose of this competition. Prizes will be sent directly by tapwater.org.
- You don’t get any extra entries for tweeting or posting about this competition anywhere, but I don’t mind if you do (go on… you know you want to!).
- Oh… and my decision is final (I like saying that!).
The best way to find out first who won this competition is to subscribe to Splodz Blogz by email or in a reader. Use the links over on the right to do this. You can also connect with Splodz Blogz on facebook, google+ and twitter if you fancy it!
Lifebottle by tapwater.org
111 months ago
A couple of weeks ago I blogged about tapwater.org and the fact that they were trying to encourage people to ditch single use plastic water bottles in favour of reusable bottles. I thought, feel, that this is a very worthy campaign – while the plastic bottles you get mineral water in are generally recycled/recyclable, we and our world are much better off drinking water from a tap (or filter jug) from our own reusable bottle.
Following that post tapwater.org got in touch and sent me one of their lifebottles – as I’d said in my post that I liked the look of them. Much appreciated!
Design wise this is a lovely item. The stainless steel has a lovely shape and (pink coating aside; I don’t generally “do” pink… but obviously I’m happy as I was sent this for free!) looks great. Don’t you think it has a nice shape? It has a satisfying weight to it from the metal, but it’s not overly heavy when empty – although definitely heavier than a plastic version would be.
The stainless steel makes this a very hygienic product. It’s easy to clean and doesn’t flavour the water with that taste you can sometimes get from reusing plastic bottles. The shape of the top is great too – no sharp bits. They call it the “kissable top” – it’s rounded and is, I agree, a joy to drink from. It’s actually got quite a wide neck when you compare it to other drinks bottles, but I don’t mind that and find this easy and very pleasant to use. Mine does now have a few black bits around the top, I’m not sure if that is transfer from the lid or where the coating is scrubbing off, but it’s still smooth to drink from.
Unfortunately the fact you have to remove the screw cap to drink from it means it’s not suitable for cyclists or runners wanting a bottle they can use on the go – it is too much of a faff for that. It’s probably too heavy to be lugging about when you’re exercising anyway. But this is lovely for everyday use, taking out and about, using on picnics or on days out in the city, keeping on a desk or in the car, for example. Mine fits neatly in the bottle holder on the side of my bag, and sits neatly in the cup holder in my car.
The ice stick is a really great idea – I put it in my freezer overnight and it helped keep my water properly cold all the following day. I love the way it screws into the top of the lifebottle, really neat. But the problem with the design here is that to drink from the bottle you have to take the cap off, which has the freezer stick attached. This means that you have a cold, dripping thing to take out of your water while you drink. Not only does this cause a leakage problem over your hands, top, trousers, table, floor etc, but it also means drinking from this bottle in a meeting or other similar scenario is not discrete. I mean, the tap of the ice stick on the bottle as you so very carefully remove the cap gives a nice tuneful ting which draws plenty of attention. I have to be honest – my metal bottle is capable of keeping my water cold enough without the addition of the ice stick for most occasions, so I have tended to leave it at home and use the lifebottle without. Shame, as it’s a really neat idea the way it screws firmly into the lid.
The other feature of the lid on the lifebottle is the little compartment designed to carry a handful of taptabs. These are discs of flavour that you can put into your water – like solid cordial I guess. You can get about 5/6 tabs inside the cap, and each one is good for one bottle of water. Another really great idea. Lifebottle sent me some orange and some sea buckthorn taptabs, and there are a number of other flavours to choose from too. Sea Buckthorn – what exactly is that then? I’m not sure – a berry of some sort known to be quite acidic and not very sweet. It tastes ok, kind of like pineapple, a bit tropical. The orange, obviously more self-explanatory, was nice. Because they dissolve you are left with water that has a very slightly fizzy texture, not like cordial more like lightly sparkling water without the bubbles. You need one tab for a glass of water, and they take a little while to dissolve properly, so be patient. That compartment in the lid of the lifebottle is watertight so you could use it for money or something else if you wanted to.
The whole point of these bottles is to prevent the need to keep buying bottled water when out and about. I work in an office where I have access to a kitchen and also water filling stations, so filling mine up on a normal day isn’t a problem. Apart from that the only official tapwater.org refilling station where I live is in Lush – so naturally I went in to fill mine up just to check I could. It was, of course, not a problem. They were very happy and cheerful and ran the tap to make sure the water was cold… I was too chicken to ask them to take my photo filling up the bottle though!
I really like my lifebottle, I’m certainly not disappointed – it looks as good in real life as in the pictures on the website, and is lovely to drink from. Having a stainless steel drinking bottle is kind of a luxury. The ice stick is a great idea but doesn’t really work in practice due to having to remove it to drink, and the taptabs are a nice extra if you like some additional flavour to your water.
The lifebottle isn’t cheap – £12 for the 350ml one I have from tapwater.org direct – but if you buy bottled water regularly then this will pay for itself very quickly.
Disclaimer: I was sent a lifebottle by tapwater.org for the purposes of reviewing it on Splodz Blogz following my discovery of tapwater.org and earlier post about them. I have not been told what to write and I have been no less honest as a result.
