What is the Safest Water Bottle Material, and Which Type Should You Buy?

A common question that many people ask when buying a reusable water bottle is, will this bottle be safe to drink from every day? It's important to know that your bottles are safe for you and your family to use, so in this video, we are going to take a closer look at seven types of water bottle materials: plastic, stainless steel, glass, aluminum, copper, silicone, and titanium. Our goal is to give you a better understanding of the available options on the market today so you can make the best decision for your situation.

Disclaimer: This video is starting to get a lot of attention! Thanks to everyone for their comments and feedback. Please keep in mind that I'm not a scientist or authority on safety for these materials. I did my best to gather verified information from reliable sources to come up with this review and summarize it for entertainment purposes in this video, but I'm sure there are details I missed. Also, new information and research is always coming out, so eventually this video will become more out-of-date as more research is completed. Please use the information from this review at your own discretion, and I encourage you to research more yourself if you have more questions and concerns. Thank you!

For more info about lead and Stanley bottles, see our more recent video here:

0:00 – Intro
0:45 – Cleaning
3:20 – Leaching
4:21 – Plastic
7:20 – Stainless Steel
11:08 – Glass
13:44 – Aluminum
14:57 – Copper
17:39 – Silicone
18:27 – Titanium
19:50 – Rankings
21:18 – Outro

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CLEANING

PLASTIC

STAINLESS STEEL

GLASS

ALUMINUM

COPPER

SILICONE

TITANIUM

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Links Referenced:

[RoguePCU]

The best combination I've ever found is a glass water bottle wrapped with a thick silicone sleeve (plus a stainless steel cap with a silicone seal). Although I've had mine for years and years without issue, I can't seem to find an exact replacement anymore. Hopefully I don't need to

[sct]

I sometimes use a glass peanut butter jar. It’s works and cost nothing. Crochet a bottle wrap for it.

[willseely]

Added problem is micro plastics. The twisting motion of sealing a lid makes micro plastics through friction. It could also happen with rubber. The best sealing method is the old bottles with the wire lever and rubber seal. No twisting motion. The first 316 SS bottle with this seal get's my money.

[robbobstone]

On stainless steel if you have coffee stains, vinegar, baking soda, and a bottle brush will get rid of it all. And no your drink will not taste like vinegar

[sagarkochar]

I laughed when he said copper is new material used to store water been used for meliniums by Eastern civilizations there is specific washing process to be followed for copper bottles. The study he referred to is based on water that passes through rusted pipes, obviously that water will not be good. But if you use a copper bottle and keep it rust free with the specific washing process, you can get immense benefits!

[OtherThanIntendedPurpose]

I started using Kleen Kanteen bottles about 15 years ago, and have never had a single bad experience. I prefer non-insulated/single wall, because I do sometimes put my bottles in a fire to boil the water. while the fallacy that insulated bottles will "Explode" if you put them in a fire seems to have it's own life, and just won't die. the insulated walls WILL expand, and seams will rupture. not explode, but open the seams to basically ruin the bottle. I don't like plastic ( I have used Nalgene, but don't like them) because not only can you not boil water in them, but if they fall in the wrong way, or on the wrong surface they can crack. this is counter productive in wilderness environments. this is also why I won't have a glass bottle. I have seen Nalgene, and similar bottles break and they always do it at the worst time. several of my Kleen Kanteen bottles have multiple dents, and carbon "burn in" but they work perfectly. As to the "health benefit" claims form ANY product sales company. I don't believe anything I hear/read out of hand. Unless I can find actual credible research, I just don't buy it.

[desi_bhai_]

glass is literally goated, i use milton or borosil(brand started by corning and indian scientist) bottles, they are surprisingly strong, one time my friends were doubting its durablity and saying plastics are durable, since then my bottles have fallen many times without any damage, but one of the friends dropped his plastic bottle mid conversation and it broke, spilling water everywhere i found that quite funny.

[cardiocosmos]

this is one of the best videos I have seen! Thank you

[theFiberSprite]

Interesting video. I'm a big fan of my stainless steel water bottles, I just wish they didn't get marked up so bad when I drop them. Guess it's better than glass breaking all the time!

[xsoccerdork]

The plastic bottle section of the vid isn't exactly accurate. Tritan/"BPA-free" plastic still leaches chemicals with estrogenic effects on the body. From a 2014 study: "Many unstressed and stressed, PC-replacement-products made from acrylic, polystyrene, polyethersulfone, and Tritan™ resins leached chemicals with EA, including products made for use by babies."

[frankstonsafranek]

Fantastic video! I found it very informative. Thank you

[abhishekjami]

well, my family has been using a copper jar to store drinking water for day to day use, for decades now, and there has been no health issues or any special health benefit, its just normal... but when I purchased a modern copper bottle and started using it, I did noticed the colour of my pee becoming much more darker which was not a good sign and hence I stopped using the bottle, one difference i have noticed in the Jar and the bottle i bought was, the jar use to get accumulated with greenish-blue colour in after like 1 or 2 month and my mom would thus clean it with lemon and salt once a month . but with the copper bottle it never happened . this makes me think how authentic the copper bottles in the market really are, or do they add additional layers/chemicals to the bottle.

[WillNGo]

I use Kleen Kanteen water bottles and thermoses. They've held up really well. I've got them on my sailboat, and last year I took a water bottle and thermos, as well as a Stanley tip proof mug also SS, on a three month salt water sailing voyage. (Small boat) Zero issues with corrosion.
Often when I'm traveling I'll get a Smart Water so I can reuse the bottle. As soon as they get some wear on them I replace them. Even if the plastic is good, it'll still begin to break down, chaff off (bending and crushing making those white stress lines? That's shedding plastic.
Decades ago I followed the mantra 'You have to get Nalgene, you have to get Nalgene' . Then at REI I noticed that there was at least three completely different types of these bottles. Seemed really suspicious. Medical supply nalgene seems to always be the soft frosted plastic. I don't really know. But why use plastic when you can use stainless steel.
All food cans have plastic linings. Never use a food can as a cooking pot.
Something else about plastic. Every 'safe' plastic seems to be inevitably condemned as toxic, carcinogenic. Take epoxy. 25 years ago it was recommended for use around food and babies. Then bis phenol A was identified as not only a carcinogen, but it basically acts like large random doses of estrogen in our bodies. Epoxy resin is about 90% BP A. Things made out of epoxy are safe, but not for cutting food on, or that a baby might suck on. (Of course we're all still here.... cancer is being cured more and more but the rate of it keeps climbing.)
Cleaning. You've got that plastic Smart Water Bottle. Your trip is only three more days, but it's starting to stink.... what I've done time and time again is wipe as much as you can reach with your finger and a paper towel or cloth through the opening. This seems to clean up 90 percent of whatever is making that smell. (Of course if you're in the middle of a cholera or typhoid outbreak, or someone with Hepatitis just drank from it... don't trust this.) I've never gotten ill.
For stainless I use a bleach cleanser (Comet) and some scrubbing. I've brushed out plastic hummingbird feeders growing big mold spots with a strong bleach solution. The mold always comes back. But when I soak them for a few hours in the bleach solution, the mold doesn't come back. So I soak, lightly brush and rinse. My SS water bottles do great with just the Comet, and only about every three months or so, and mostly to get the coffee build up out.
You missed one type of material. Silver. It kills bacteria. People in the 19th century used silver water canteens. I don't know if the silver leeches, but if you consume a lot of silver you turn deep blue and I guess it never goes away.

[smazad]

What about using alcohol bottles after proper cleaning instead of buying such expensive bottles?

[chrissolace]

Makes sense glass is the best. It’s used in the scientific field all the time because it can hold almost any chemical and has been around for a long time. I’m surprised silicone really has no downsides, but that’s a good thing if we’re looking for plastic bottle replacements.

[marieantoine]

No wonder the water tasted better when I used a glass container before. Can't believe I'll be changing all my water bottles to glass now haha

[Simplicity]

1:20 is that a toilet brush? 😂 That made me chuckle.

[ejcastro]

If you use the HDPE Nalgene bottle, you can in fact boil them as they were originally used in labs. They are almost impossible to permanently damage by dropping or driving over it. They are lighter than the Tritan Nalgene. I prefer that HDPE over the others. I do use several types of YETI but don't take them hiking; more everyday use. I think mostly it's too expensive to use brand name bottles in public due to loss or theft. Won't be too upset for losing a HDPE Nalgene that cost less than $10 when I bought them. But my workplace provides us w Tritan plastic bottles and Stanley insulated bottles so losing or throwing them away to replace is no big deal.

[josephm]

All this debate over the safest material for water bottles seems a bit overblown. After all, the water in your bottle has already passed through steel, copper, and plastic pipes before reaching you. By the time it gets to your water bottle, it has already been exposed to potential contaminants.

[marthadoelle]

Smartwater bottle is #1 hiker pick (used over and over until lid breaks). Hoping that benefits from fresh air and exercise offset negatives of plastic.