Kind of a rant — I drink water and flavored-water beverages, and I don’t wanna buy 24-packs of water and trust my local municipality to recycle. Maybe they do, maybe they don’t. Either way, it’s not recycle, it’s “reduce, reuse, recycle.” I’ll drink a Gatorade (Zero) and reuse it a few times and then toss it.
But if I want a reusable bottle — there’s one by Aladdin (Thermos) I like, and one by Zojirushi, I’ve bought two of each over the years. Just tossed the Zojirushi. Zojirushi is a Japanese brand, very high quality, but a bit over-engineered. It’s got this rubber gasket and plug that, you can clean them daily, they get black spots. Not sure if it’s mould or what, but it’s kinda gross and I don’t like it. The Aladdin/Thermos one is a bit better, didn’t think there was any mould anywhere until I dropped it, the cap flew out, mould farm inside! Nowhere that touched the beverage so that was nice. But I’m kinda done with both of them. I would rather just waste plastic than risk drinking from a mouldy reusable cup.
Are there reusable bottles that aren’t mould farms?
I would just not care about the biofilm and wash it regularly. If you fill the bottle from a clean source and it doesnt smell or taste strange, the water should be fine for consumption.
You know your fresh water pipes also have biofilms in them? If it isnt contaminated, the microorganisms there are harmless. So if you get clean water from the pipes and your mouth has a healthy microbiome, where should potentially harmful microorganisms come from?
Only in rare amounts from the environment when you open the bottle. For that to create a buildup will take time. If you properly wash your bottle like once a week you should be fine.
No bottle will stay clean if you dont wash it from time to time.