Green Life Project is a weekly series of posts highlighting one change for readers to make in their life in order to gradually green their lives.

||Week One||

This week’s Green Life Project action item is to go out and purchase a reusable metal water bottle.

Using a metal water bottle is Green Life Project's first action item.

Yes, I know many of you probably have already done this, so I hope this is not too ho-hum for you…  Hear me out!

I also know many have not taken this easy step, and it is one of the simplest, so it makes a great first step!  It also saves money and helps toward improving one’s envirohuman impact immediately!

Reusable water bottles save a lot of energy because the water you drink from the tap is much more efficient to use than having bottles of water shipped from across the country (or, in some cases, the world).  Just think, if one were drinking an average of two bottles per day, that equals 730 bottles each year for just one person!  That’s about thirty 24-pack cases of water, which is about a pallet load of water — just for you!

And that’s a lot of money, too!  Think how much one case of water costs and how much lugging them around isn’t all that fun, either.  Storing them in the closet or pantry.  Keeping the fridge stocked.  A $10-$20 water bottle will pay for itself quickly and repay its worth in savings over and over — something we could all use in this down economy.

Say, "goodbye," to stocking the fridge with expensive, one-use bottles of water!

“But I recycle…”

Even if you’re recycling your plastic water bottles, remember that plastic is energy intensive to manufacture and to recycle.  Not all plastic actually gets recycled; even if you put it into a recycling bin, it can lose its way before actually making it to a recycling facility.  Additionally, plastic can only be recycled a finite number of times because the material degrades each time it is recycled.

So go out and pick a water bottle. I recommend that you purchase a stainless steel bottle, as plastic reusable bottles have been shown to leach chemicals into water, I don’t even trust BPA-free and BPB-free bottles, as other plastics probably leach other chemicals that we just may not yet know about.  You also have to figure that all water bottles, even reusables, have an end-of-life and metal is recyclable almost indefinitely while plastic is not.

I am still using a Sigg water bottle, but recommend stainless steel over Sigg for some of the reasons highlighted in this story and comments below it from last year.  I tried out Whole Foods’ stainless steel bottles but I was astonished that after one use there was a rust line at the water surface level!

So again, go out and purchase a reusable metal water today!

Don’t forget, once you’ve made the change, you can record it in your green calendar!

If you’ve already taken this step, email this story to someone you know who might need a nudge toward adopting a greener lifestyle!

Other related stories:

Product Review: Sigg Metal Water Bottle

Product Review: Nalgene Water Bottles

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