Is your water bottle dirtier than a public toilet?
We know that reusable bottles have various perks. They're cost-effective, usually environmentally friendly, and they often encourage people to stay hydrated. They're also all the rage. In the UK around 60% of people own a reusable bottle - a positive step towards combating the approximately 85% of plastic bottles sold that become waste. Reusable bottles do however, need some care and attention, and you may have watched some TikToks recently which show just how dirty some can get…
So, does your water bottle need a good clean? Check out this short clip from Reliable Sauce, a BBC Sounds podcast.
Jonelle: How often do you use that water bottle?
Melvin: Every day.
Jonelle: How often do you clean it?
Melvin: Every day, I just rinse it.
Vox 1: Probably been like over a month.
Vox 2: Every few weeks.
Vox 3: Once a week.
Vox 4: Not as often as I should probably.
Jonelle: We got a chance to swab these bottles.
Joshua: The water bottles have approximately twenty point one million bacterial cells per ml. The toilet has just 600.
Jonelle: The toilet's got less? There's so much more bacteria on your water bottle than a toilet in a pub. Let's not scare everyone. The bacteria that's in the toilets are more dangerous.
Kirsty: Most of the bacteria that he found comes from our mouth. So it's not stuff that's really, really harmful, but, he said you have to wash it once a day with soap, scrub the rim and then once a week, he said if it's dish washable, put it in the dishwasher.
Just how dirty is your reusable water bottle?
The Reliable Sauce team lab tested ten reusable water bottles and found that they contained an average of 20.1 million bacteria per ml. In comparison, the public toilets that they tested, had just 600 bacteria per ml. This might sound shocking, but, according scientist and microbe specialist, Joshua Uzochukwu, most of the bacteria found on the water bottles isn't harmful and probably won't cause disease, whereas the bacteria found in the toilet is more dangerous.
How to clean a water bottle
There are loads of hacks online on how to clean your water bottle, but what's the best method? Josh advises that you clean your bottle once a day with soap, and also give your bottle a deep clean once a week using the dishwasher, as long as it's dishwasher safe.
Does TikTok influence what we buy?
With in-app sales experiences like TikTok Shop, it's now easier than ever for social media platforms to have influence on what kind of products we buy. One brand of reusable water bottle has amassed a huge fanbase on TikTok, with over 7 billion video views worldwide, and sales set to hit $750m for the last year, compared to only $70m in 2020. The hype even saw people queuing overnight to get their hands on a special edition bottle.
Learn more about how TikTok can influence you and how to control your fyp. or how to spot clickbait.
You can get more from Reliable Sauce, Bitesize and BBC News on BBC Sounds.
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