Why you stop buying plastic water bottle? Well, because you care about the environment. You recycle, you choose green products, and you do your best to make choices that are good for the planet. You also pay attention to the news, and do your best to use good ideas when you hear them. That’s one of the reasons you’ve decided to stop buying bottled water – because you know carrying reusable containers is better for the environment. You’ve even chosen a style you want to try – collapsible water bottles. But as you’ve probably noticed, there are tons of different options out there, each one claiming to be the very best.

To help you decide on the right collapsible water bottle, let’s take a look at some plastic water bottle facts.

Plastic Water Bottle Fact #1: BPA-Free Bottles Are Safer

BPA, or Bisphenol A, is a chemical building block that is used to make polycarbonate plastic. Used in all sorts of different things, from eyeglass lenses to DVD cases, for the most part BPA is safe. But when plastic containers that have BPA in them are heated up, the BPA can leach into the food or liquid the container is holding. And that isn’t safe. In fact, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, high levels of BPA have been linked to heart disease, diabetes and liver failure. So choose a collapsible water bottle that is labeled BPA free.

Plastic Water Bottle Fact #2: Recyclable Water Bottles Aren’t Meant to be Reused

Drinks that you buy in recyclable, plastic bottles from the store are perfectly safe to drink, because the plastic is safe for food use. As long as they aren’t heated up. The type of plastic used for these bottles is known polyethylene terephthalate (or PET), and PET is not meant to be used over and over. Why not? Because of bacteria, and because of BPA. You can’t properly clean PET plastics, because to do so you would need to use hot water – and hot water would release the BPA in the plastic. And you can’t use them over and over without cleaning them, because that would make them a haven for germs. Which means that recyclable plastic water bottles are no replacement for collapsible water bottles that are BPA free.

Plastic Water Bottle Fact #3: Using Collapsible Water Bottles is Better for the Environment

You already know that if you stop buying bottled water, thousands of water bottles will stay out of the landfills. But did you know that there are other benefits of using refillable water bottles? By reducing the demand for bottled water, fewer bottles need to be manufactured, which means less crude oil is wasted. And think about recycling for a minute. Even when bottles are recycled, it means that crude oil and other resources are being used to recycle them – things that could be used elsewhere if there was less of a need to recycle. This is probably the most important plastic water bottle fact – no matter what brand of reusable bottle you choose, as long as it is BPA free and meant to be reused, you are making a good decision for the environment.