The reusable ones are easy to refill, but have you ever stopped to think when was the last time you cleaned thoroughly yours?
Maybe you think that every time you rinse your bottle you are cleaning it. And it is partly true. So much so that experts recommend that at least we rinse it every day with tap water, because it has built-in chlorine, which is always helpful.
But it’s just a help. Because although it is true that a rinse can perform a superficial cleaning, with that alone we will not achieve remove all bacteria from inside the bottleand especially if it is plastic or opaque.
Why is it necessary to clean reusable bottles regularly?
Let’s not see them with the naked eye, but microorganisms like fungi and reproduce in water.
And although chlorine destroys them, the small doses that tap water brings evaporate over the hours, especially if the bottle is at room temperature.
For this reason, although the evaporated chlorine remains inside the bottle, like every time we open it to drink a drink, it escapes to the outside… The end result is that after a while there are no traces of chlorine left in the bottle. water we have in the bottle.
And from that moment on, our water it becomes a place where bacteria could grow, although their proliferation is limited by the scarcity of nutrients in the drinking water.
The bad thing is that the water contains sediments that are deposited, invisibly, on the walls of the reusable bottle. And in these sediments is where microorganisms nest, forming thin films called biofilms.
If we add to this the organic particles that if we do not use a glass will inevitably enter the bottle when we drink, the cocktail of live microorganisms is served.
How to effectively clean and sanitize a reusable bottle?
According to sanitation experts and , Using the dishwasher is the most effective solution to effectively disinfect reusable bottles, for three simple reasons:
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The synergistic action of soaps.
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The high temperatures reached by the water in the
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And for the time that the container remains subjected to those temperatures
The combination of these three systems guarantees an eradication of most microorganisms.
What to do if you don’t have a dishwasher?
In the absence of a good dishwasher, as usually happens with the multipurpose water bottle that we have in the office or at school, we can resort to several options:
- The bleach: add a couple of drops of bleach and fill the bottle with water. After fifteen minutes and abundant and thorough rinsing, the reusable bottle will be completely sanitized.
- TOmoniac: It is a powerful degreaser and for this reason it is widely used to clean floors and countertops. But it is also a good disinfectant that can be used for the inside of the bottle, always with the warning of abundant and deep rinsing, because this product is not drinkable.
- The vinegar? We all know that it is one of the most recommended natural products on the internet to disinfect almost anything, but it really does not have that capacity.
Acetic acid, which is its main component, can help to break down dirt to some extent, but it is ineffective in eliminating viruses and bacteria, as many have confirmed.
In fact, there is an abundant group of bacteria that are called just that: “acid-alcohol resistant”. And the Koch bacillus that causes tuberculosis, for example, is one of them.
For this reason, not even the “famous” recipe of filling the bottle with 50% vinegar and 50% water and leaving it to act for 20 minutes to rinse thoroughly with tap water, serves to disinfect the bottle.
How often should a reusable water bottle be cleaned?
Experts say that, in order to avoid any health risk, The cleaning and sanitizing process must be done daily. And every week, more in depth.
Beware of screw caps
The recesses of the threads are places where more sediment is deposited and, therefore, there is a greater proliferation of bacteria.
If we do not have a dishwasher, it is necessary use a brush to scrub the threads and the inside of the plugs every time we carry out the sanitization operation.
Subsequently we must submerge the stopper in a glass of water with bleach, according to the proportions indicated above, in order to complete the disinfection.
And what about reusable bottles made of plastic materials?
Plastics are porous materials where the accumulation of microorganisms is much greater than in glass.
Furthermore, when some plastics degrade, they can release microparticles that are harmful to health.
Among them the famous bisphenol (BPA), which was used very frequently and has effects on the health of the brain and the prostate of fetuses, babies and children.
Additionally, additional research suggests a possible link between bisphenol A and increased blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.
That is, nothing may happen because you refill the same plastic bottle several times during an afternoon, but The healthiest thing is to refrain from reusing them for a longer time, and the most recommended thing is to throw them away after the first use..
The reuse of commonly consumed plastic bottles is highly contraindicated by scientists.