De Dopper Reusable Water Bottle – Product Review

De Dopper, the perfect bottle for tap water.

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

De Dopper, or the Dopper (depending on language), is the perfect tap water bottle. It is sustainable, practical, and fashionable.

The Dopper is an initiative for the promotion of tap water and the reduction of plastic waste. For this purpose, the Dopper has introduced the perfect tap water bottle; durable, convenient and nicely designed.

Using a Dopper bottle means that you will no longer need to buy so-called “spring” water in disposable bottles, which will reduce plastic waste.

I was given a Dopper bottle as a promotional freebie (thank you very much indeed) by a company exhibiting at the 100% Design Show 2012 that I attended at Earls Court. I was so taken by the design of it that I decided to review it and let the readers know about it.

Trust the Dutch and the Danes, and in this case it is the Dutch, to come up with a great design and concept for a reusable tap water bottle.

Best of all is that it is not just designed in the Netherlands by Rinke van Remortel but it is also manufactured there with a zero carbon footprint, is free of BPA, as it is made of Polypropylene, and supports drinking water projects in Asia and Africa.

The best part of the bottle, and that's where there design comes in, is that it disassembles into three parts, the bottle, the cup (yes, a cup, as long as you leave the cap in place), and the cap.

This also makes is easy to hygienically clean the bottle by either using the dishwasher (the bottle is dishwasher-safe) or, and that is my recommendation, using a dishwashing brush with hot soapy water.

This three-part design is the best that I have so far seen in any reusable water bottle and it enables, as said, to really clean the bottle. Many others just cannot be cleaned properly as the size of the neck does not allow for good access.

I have rarely seen a reusable water bottle that well thought out and designed (and no, the company is not paying me to say this).

Polypropylene, while being a plastic, does not contain BPA and can also, should it ever be necessary that you want to dispose of the Dopper bottle, be recycled (almost) everywhere.

This bottle would fall under the “good plastic” as it is a plastic bottle that can safely be used time and again probably for a lifetime and its use does away with the one-way use PET bottles with the so-called “spring” water which also costs a fortune to buy.

In the Netherlands alone every day at least half a million of plastic (water) bottles are thrown away. Most of those, regardless of recycling schemes, end up on the rubbish dumps, on the street, in the rivers and finally in the sea.

Tap water can be had for almost nothing and many cities around the world do have free public drinking water fountains where you can fill up a bottle such as the Dopper.

Great design and great bottle...

© 2012

Green Bottle Stainless Steel Reusable Water Bottle – Product Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Green Bottle reusable water bottle originates in the USA – though is manufactured in China – and is distributed by “a fine choice ltd.” of Twickenham and is also available from the company's website.

The bottle that I received for review was my choice of the brushed stainless steel, though it comes in a multitude of colors and in three sizes, 350ml, 600ml, and 750ml.

According to the attached label, while made in China, the Green Bottle is made in a factory adhering to “Fair Labor Agreement” and thus that is already something to be said for this particular bottle, as regards to ethical standards.

The bottle is said to be BPA-free and that here refers to primarily the plastic stopper and the seal, as stainless steel, by its very nature, not requiring a lines, is and should be free of BPA and such like.

BPA-free, as regards to plastics, is rather a stretchable term as it has been found of later that it is not just BPA that is a problem. Other compounds too have, it would appear, the same or similar effects. The question thus arises as to which plastic is, in fact, safe to use, if any.

I had the opportunity to put the bottle to a real good test on Saturday, October 1, 2011 on my travel – by train and on foot – to Loseley Park for the Route to the Future event organized by Trudy Thompson of Bricks & Bread. Unlike so many other bottles that I have tested of stainless steel, with the rather large mouth, the Green Bottle's seal allowed not a single drop of water to escape.

This is, I am sure, due to the way that the stopper is created and to the way the thread of it has been designed.

A very nice and especially good reusable stainless steel water bottle for a very good price. In fact, I do doubt that you will get the same quality for the same price in the form of another bottle.

© 2011

Aquatina – The Collapsible Reusable Water Bottle

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Despite the fact that the Dragons of the BBC's “Dragon's Den” program rejected the Aquatina idea and refused to back Guy Jeremiah I believe this to be an interesting product with capabilities. Black Leisure and Millets, both Britain's leading outdoors equipment retailers also do.

What the Dragons, though the board, failed to appreciate is that reusing the single use PET bottle is not a good idea as far as health is concerned and not just for children (and we will come to that, however, in a separate article). This is primarily with regards to leaching Bisphenol A and (other) phthalates but also, and this must also be a concern, as to hygiene. The single use PET bottle is not easy to clean and to keep clean.

The Aquatina bottle – and that is the selling point for me – is designed and manufactured in the UK. It is not, and hopefully never will be, “Made in China”. Its carbon footprint is thus reduced in comparison to other bottles, whether single use or reusable as the Aquatina bottle is, which are predominately made in the Middle Kingdom.

The two British outdoor retailers, Blacks and Milliets, had the right nose, methinks, to get involved with Aquatina and I, personally, think that Aquatina would also be good an addition to larger “survival” kits as a collapsible water carrier. I mean, honest, who wants to carry water – for drinking – in a rubber birth control device? I know that I would not.

Coming back to the question or story of the Dragon's Den dragons and Aquatina I must say that the presentation could have been done better, perhaps, without the mention of the monetary volume of the bottled water market and even that of the reusable bottle market. Neither of that really mattered. It should have been the fact of Aquatina being a reusable water bottle than can be collapsed to a more-or-less convenient pocket size. Some pockets, I know, are smaller than others but it is the principle that counts.

The selling point, in my opinion, is the fact that Aquatina is a reusable water bottle that can collapsed and in that way can be carried, without getting into the way, unfilled, to a fountain or filling station and after the water has been drunk it can be collapsed again and stowed away in the pocket.

In fact, creating a pocket for it with a carabiner that would enable the Aquatina bottle to be carried, empty, clipped to a belt might be an accessory to be considered.

The Aquatina collapsible reusable water bottle may be the one tool that might just convert some bottled water users to switch to reusable bottle and tap water. It just might do it.

I must say that, while initially intrigued I did remain sceptical, prior to having used it a few times, as to whether the Aquatina bottle would work OK and such, but must say that I am, so far, pleasantly surprised.

The one main worry that I had, and maybe still have, to a very small degree, is the constant folding, the constant opening and collapsing, of this plastic concertina bottle and how the plastic will cope with that. Having read the test results from the university, however, I must say that they are rather impressive and the estimated nine years plus of serviceable life to me appears to be a good one.

As far as I am concerned, and, it would appear, also many other people, the Dragons, as more than once before, have not seen the potential of this product.

Was it not a similar panel that rejected Trevor Baylis' windup radio, now called Freeplay? All those that refused to back him then are now really kicking themselves.

Whether the bottled water market is US$ 85 Million or or not is not relevant in this equation and neither, really, is the size of the market in reusable water bottles.

The latter will get bigger as the former will shrink and shrink it will as people ditch the single use bottle but it also does not have unlimited expansion capacity either.

Neither here nor there that is anyway. What counts, however, that that Aquatina is, in my opinion, a convenient receptacle and carrying device to tap water, and at £5 retail (maybe the price could be rethought) for “Made in England” it is brilliant.

The Aquatina reusable collapsible bottle is made from LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene) and is a plastic that does not have any association with the dreaded BPA and other similar substances.

© 2011

Full Disclosure Statement: The GREEN (LIVING) REVIEW received no compensation for any component of this article with the exception of a sample of the product to keep.

Tapwater iPhone App Has Arrived - Get Tapwater on the go for FREE

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The Tapwater revolution is gathering momentum. With more than 440 ‘refilling’ stations in the UK, tapwater.org has come a long way since it launched in November 2010 with only a handful.

But let's look at the past. For years, nay decades and more, we used to have public tap water fountains in public parks, at schools and elsewhere. And then? Then they were taken away. Why? Beats me. And suddenly it also had to be bottled water. Bottled “spring” – what spring – water was supposed to be so much healthier than municipal water.

Now the recently launched tapwater.org iPhone app lets you locate free tap water refilling stations where you are. It will show you the closest pubs, shops, cafes and public fountains in your area. All part of tapwater.org’s global network, offering drinking water on the go, it's free to download and available now on the App Store. All you need is a reusable bottle and you can get one from them soon as well.

A not-for-profit organisation, Tapwater.org’s aim is to develop a global tap water map by partnering up with similar schemes in Canada, America and Holland where networks are already in place.

To support the scheme Tapwater. Org will be selling wholesale/retail a high quality stainless steel "lifebottle” designed by Neil Barron who won 2009’s Carafe for London competition sponsored by Thames Water as part of its London on Tap campaign. The bottle will be available to buy from Tapwater.org’s website or through it’s participating partners in June.

Tapwater.org intend to feed back 100% of profits from the organisation into providing funding for water related schemes in educational establishments and participating businesses.

As far as i am concerned this is a great idea but then again regular readers will know my take on bottled water vs. tap. Make mine tap every time, as long as we are talking safe municipal water supplies.

For further information about joining the scheme please go to www.tapwater.org or contact Cristina@tapwater.org

© 2011