on my crystal geyser 1 liter water bottle: "do not refill." WTF?

[dolph]

it seems obvious why they would put it on the label, but who on earth would see that and think, "oooh, i better not refill it, otherwise i could get hurt!"

 

[cpals]

They put it on a lot of water bottles, I believe...

 

[Colt45]

lmao. some marketing geniuses (genii? geniusi?) at that outfit.

 

[SoCo]

I am guessing it would be some sort of warning to stop people from refilling and selling again but that's still really dumb...

 

[brxndxn]

This whole wide world is lame!

 

[Kaervak]

They just don't want you to fill it up with tap water and find out that it's the same thing is all.

 

[bleeb]

They say the bacteria concentration exponentially explodes in there and so more people are getting sick from reusing their water bottles.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: SoCo
I am guessing it would be some sort of warning to stop people from refilling and selling again but that's still really dumb...

correct

 

[thomsbrain]

rinse it out well with a little detergent, fill it a 1/4 of the way up, then stick it in the freezer. when you want it, fill it the rest of the way and you've got a nice bottle of ice water. and they've never made me sick.




::falls over dead:: j/k

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: dolph
it seems obvious why they would put it on the label, but who on earth would see that and think, "oooh, i better not refill it, otherwise i could get hurt!"

It is probably on there for legal reasons. Someone probably refilled a water bottle, got sick or hurt, and sued the water bottle company.

 

[ApacheXMD]

and doesn't chlorine from the plastic leech into the water over time?

-patchy

 

[IEatChildren]

Originally posted by: ApacheXMD
and doesn't chlorine from the plastic leech into the water over time?

-patchy

Chances are the tapwater you'll be drinking will contain chlorine or fluoride anyway, so what's the difference?

 

[Bulldozer]

Originally posted by: ApacheXMD
and doesn't chlorine from the plastic leech into the water over time?

-patchy

The plastic most likely doesn't have chlorine in it. Most water bottles are PETE (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen) or polyethylene (carbon and hydrogen).

 

[iwearnosox]

Oddly enough I was trying "splenda" sugar substitute, they mutate a chlorine atom onto a regular sugar molecule. It takes just like teh sugar but is it deadly now? :Q

 

[illusion88]

I like to fill mine about 2/3 of the way up and then add water. Then I got some nice ICE!!

 

[vegetation]

Just refill with an alcoholic beverage.. bacterial contamination wont be an issue and you'll get a better tasting drink :beer:

 

[habib89]

Originally posted by: Bulldozer

Originally posted by: ApacheXMD
and doesn't chlorine from the plastic leech into the water over time?

-patchy

The plastic most likely doesn't have chlorine in it. Most water bottles are PETE (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen) or polyethylene (carbon and hydrogen).

duh!! stupid patchy

oh, btw, it's been proven that these (not just crystal gyser, but almost all water bottles) grow bacteria pretty well.. people can easily get sick from reusing a bottle several times without washing it.. however i'm sure if you rinsed it with some soap, you'll be ok.. it's just to prevent those that dont' want to do that from getting sick..

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: SoCo
I am guessing it would be some sort of warning to stop people from refilling and selling again but that's still really dumb...

im still missing buying the water in a bottle *looks at faucet* but maybe its just me

 

[dabuddha]

Taken from: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/swartz/17swartz_d1prerund.html

The small water bottle is not intended to be used more than once, according to the International Bottled Water Association, a trade group for bottled water companies. The plan is for you to open the cap, drink up and, when it's empty, you put it in the recycle bin.


A spokesman for the organization agreed that it sounds like a marketing ploy to get people to buy more water, but explained it's a genuine sanitary issue. The manufacturer produces a safe bottle of water for you, following FDA regulations. But the government or the bottle maker is not there to make sure you adequately sterilize before refilling.


Some water bottlers have a tiny "Do not refill" reminder on the bottle, but most do not. Most do urge you to recycle, which is an even more important message for the industry because someone is always getting on them for stuffing the landfill with plastic.


The refill issue actually came up not with a water bottle, but with those wide-mouthed sports bottles that kids take in their lunch. When a grade school in Canada tested the kids' bottles for bacteria, they found them crawling, so much that a doctor said had they found a similar count in the town water supply, they'd shut it down.


From there the concern swung into a general suspicion of all bottles that people reuse, including the guy at work topping up his minibottle at the water cooler.


The problem is "backwash," explained a spokeswoman with Nestles Waters, which owns more than a dozen water brands, including Perrier and Calistoga. Bacteria feeds on saliva, sweat and food particles left in the bottle.


There's another concern that the thin grade of plastic can break down after multiple uses, giving the drinker something that tastes more like chemicals and less like a mountain spring.


Some scoff and say that they refill the same bottle with tap water every day when they go to the gym and again while they're there, winning points with trainers who are absolute water zealots. And they haven't fallen sick. They're probably the same ones who as kids drank from the garden hose and swallowed half the wading pool.


But that's America. You still get to choose what to obsess over. But don't say somebody didn't warn you.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: bleeb
They say the bacteria concentration exponentially explodes in there and so more people are getting sick from reusing their water bottles.

 

[GreenGhost]

If you refill it with tap water and drink from it, you realize you're just paying for tap water, and you never buy again.

 

[techwanabe]

They put the message on the bottle because alot of people have no common sense.

Wash out the bottle periodically with some dish soap and hot water and you are good to go. Duh!

 

[dolph]

dabuddha, thank you very much. (i never drank from the pool because of the chlorine, but i loved drinking from the garden hose)

 

[BZ]

so wash it first!

everytime we go out, we're like 50 feet out the door and my wife says "I need some water. I'll just stop here and buy some."

I'm like, "We have a sink at home, with water in it!"