Reusable water bottles hold more bacteria than toilet seat, study finds

In regards to the environment only, is it better to use a re-usable bottle that you wash everyday with hot, soapy water or just recycle the plastic water bottles daily? I use a Contigo stainless steel re-usable bottle that I really like but I do wonder if I'm having a positive or negative effect on the world in which we live. I wonder the same thing every time I line a sheet pan with aluminum foil so cleanup is easy. Better to wash the pan or throw a ball of foil in the trash?

Don’t feel guilty, when an old ship is parked on an Indian beach somewhere to be dismantled, it’s oil and other fluids spilled right into the ocean, nobody cares. Why feel guilty about such petty and insignificant things?
 
Don’t feel guilty, when an old ship is parked on an Indian beach somewhere to be dismantled, it’s oil and other fluids spilled right into the ocean, nobody cares. Why feel guilty about such petty and insignificant things?
That's exactly how I feel. People spend their entire lives worrying about their trash, recycling their old snot, composting their pet Dachshund's crap. Or if they're killing the Ozone layer with their deodorant.

Then along comes Mt. St. Helens or Pinatubo, and blows tens of thousands of tons of ash, Sulphur Dioxide, and Hydrogen Sulphide 20 miles into the atmosphere. Nature is far rougher on itself than we could ever hope to be.
 
That's exactly how I feel. People spend their entire lives worrying about their trash, recycling their old snot, composting their pet Dachshund's crap. Or if they're killing the Ozone layer with their deodorant.

Then along comes Mt. St. Helens or Pinatubo, and blows tens of thousands of tons of ash, Sulphur Dioxide, and Hydrogen Sulphide 20 miles into the atmosphere. Nature is far rougher on itself than we could ever hope to be.
For sure, but that’s nature and we cannot control it.

My my point is the general hypocrisy of environmentalism. General public is constantly being reminded how bad their choices are for the environment, and hence why so many place a self imposed guilt on themselves I think, while governments and corporations around the world are the ones that truly pollute.

A single private jet will spew out more CO2 in one year then an average person in their lifetime commuting to work. And that’s just one single jet, The proportions get even more staggering when you start looking at coporations. Like how much restaurants waste food. How much garbage, traffic and fuel burned is created by Amazon business model. That’s just to name few examples.

But you and me, or an average person living their quiet, normal lives are portrayed as the polluters.
 
"...found reusable bottles can harbor..."
sounds like a puff peace from the plastics industry for single use (single use, throw away bottles - there is no "away"). I congratulate any1 who avoids single use. No 1 shares their sippy cup, just wash weekly. 10% bleach is sufficient, not necessary but 'gofurid' & your inner worrier.
 
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"...found reusable bottles can harbor..."
sounds like a puff p. from the plastics industry for single use (single use, throw away bottles - there is no "away"). I congratulate any1 who avoids single use. No 1 shares their sippy cup, wash weekly. 10% bleach is sufficient, not necessary but 'gofurid' & ur inner worrier.
My head hurts after deciphering this reply. You must be Gen Z.
 
We constantly hear that toilet seats are cleaner than a lot of things - a few years back it was restaurant ice.

So... should we start eating off of toilet seats, or will they become as dirty then as the stuff we use for food?
 
I often wondered about that. The part of you that touches the seat, rarely ever touches anything else. And the dirty part just sits out there in the wind, over the water. So why should the seat be dirty?
It's a mystery that only a study of gas station toilets can answer.
 
To put this into perspective:

The human body is nothing but a vessel for bacteria.
You have more bacteria in your guts and on your skin than you have cells in your body - they totally outnumber you.
And yeah - they keep you alive. Without them you would be dead.

So the whole water bottle thing is a total nothingburger and click bait.
Whatever is in your bottle, your stomach acid easily deals with it - we would have been long extinct, if it wouldn't be that way.

No offence, but this seems to be something especially Americans are obsessed with.
To be fair, it's getting worse by the year over here too though.
Hygienic obsession (and sanitizing everything all the time) goes hand in hand with failing immune systems and allergies.

my ct 2


Smart man ^^^^^^^

Learned this in school…

Well done man. Well done and well stated.
 
Basically anything that isn't washed after use will contain bacteria. More repeated unwashed uses will have more bacteria present. This is nothing new.

I sure won't be eating meat off the toilet seat....:sick:
 
These kinds of studies are all a bunch of NONSENSE.

What kind of bacteria are they talking about? We all have bacterias (good) on our hand and water, and if we talk about toilet they are usually OK until someone with a stomach flu or some crazy illness use it for #2, then the bacteria count and TYPE becomes the problem.

Do you poop into your water bottle and then use it for drinking water? If you don't then even if you just rinse it and scrub it once a week with soap water you will be fine.
 
"... they are usually OK until someone with a stomach flu or some crazy illness use it for #2, then..."
no, OTHER ppl's is not good 4 U. Even if they R not sick U can run in to something ur system will not like.
My gut biome is not ur gut biome.
We can sail for a wk+ w/friends (a boat is CLOSE 1/4s !) & not get sick. But a wk later, cleaning the bilge (ie ur name 4 toilet) can create dis - ease if not careful (rubber gloves, mask/goggles, sanitation measures). 3rd World farmers know that it takes 90 days exposure to the elements (air, sun, rain) B4 humanure can B used on shared crops.
 
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