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Which Water Bottles Completely Avoid Plastic?

5/20/2024

Which Bottles Completely Avoid Plastic Contact With Your Water?

Which Bottles Avoid Plastic Completely?

Today we're exploring the question, which bottles completely avoid plastic contact with your water? You might think going with a stainless steel bottle like a Hydro Flask, YETI, or Stanley would be fine, but the vast majority of bottles still have exposed plastic under the lid. So what can you do? The good news is that there are an increasing number of brands with options that completely avoid plastic on the inside.

Water Bottle Options Covered Next that Avoid Plastic Contact with Water:
#1: Hydro Flask's Stainless Steel Flex Cap
#2: Healthy Human
#3: Klean Kanteen
#4: EcoVessel
#5: Glass Options (Mayu and Sunkey)

Video Review: Which Bottles Avoid Plastic?

We also cover this in a YouTube video if you'd prefer to watch the recap!

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Which Lid Styles Avoid Plastic?

As a general rule-of-thumb, you're typically going to have to use the type of lid that you have to screw all the way on and off to take a sip ("Standard" type shown below). Each brand has a different name for it, but you'll normally need to avoid straw, spout, and sip style lids. They have more moving parts and connections that make it more difficult to make a lid that's completely stainless steel on the bottom.

Common Water Bottle Lid Styles

Option #1 - Hydro Flask's Stainless Steel Flex Cap ("Flex Steel")

Hydro Flask Stainless Steel Flex Cap ("Flex Steel")

I'll start with one that costs the least amount of money if you already have a Hydro Flask. Most of their lids have plastic on the bottom. However, you can purchase their stainless steel Flex Cap lid as a separate add-on (I call it the "Flex Steel").

I'm a fan of saving money and not buying more bottles than you need, so consider getting this lid if you already have a Hydro Flask.

See Flex Steel Lid

Hydro Flask's Flex Cap vs Stainless Steel Flex Cap ("Flex Steel")

Option #2: Healthy Human

Healthy Human Water Bottle

Next is Healthy Human. I recently got my hands on my first bottles from this brand, and they're pretty solid. The handle is a good width and each bottle came with a carabiner so you can clip it to a bag.

I was really happy to see that they include stainless steel under the lid. And it's worth noting that both their traditional bottle shape as well as their newer "Curve" series have stainless steel under the lids.

See Healthy Human

Stainless Steel Under Healthy Human Lid

Option #3: Klean Kanteen

Klean Kanteen Classic Insulated

Now let's look at Klean Kanteen. They have the most options I'm aware of, and it makes sense with their brand since they really helped popularize stainless steel bottles as an alternative to plastic in the wake of the Nalgene BPA revolution.

To my knowledge, these are the options that have stainless steel under the lid (confirmed with an inquiry to Klean Kanteen).

Their loop caps, which includes their non-insulated single walls, classic insulated, and TKWides.
Their Reflect series, which is a little trendier with a bamboo lid.
Their pour-through lid and TKPro thermos, both of which are designed more for pouring your drink or cocktail into another cup.

See Classic Insulated

Klean Kanteen Reflect Series

See Reflect Series

Klean Kanteen Pour Through

See Pour Through

Klean Kanteen TKPro

See TKPro

Option #4: EcoVessel

EcoVessel's Boulder Series

EcoVessel is one other brand that's not quite as well-known as the others, but it has some cool things going for it. Each bottle comes with a bottle boot and a strainer for ice, fruit, or tea, which is something the other brands don't have.

More important to this post, the lid is the only spout/chug style one I've seen that has stainless steel underneath.

Your water will touch some silicone so that's something to keep in mind if that's too close to plastic for you, but from what I've read, silicone doesn't seem to have the same level of concern as plastic when it comes to contacting water.

See EcoVessel

EcoVessel's Chug Style Lid

Option #5: Glass Bottles by Mayu and Sunkey

That's it for what I've seen from stainless steel bottles, but what about glass?

Lifefactory is one of the biggest names in glass bottles, but as far as I can tell all of their lids have exposed plastic.

So you'll have to look at some other brands like Mayu or Sunkey.

These names don't carry the same weight as one like Hydro Flask, but I woudn't be surprised if a glass bottle brand takes over the social media landscape in the next few years in the same way that Hydro Flask, YETI, and now Stanley have over the last decade. It just seems like more and more people are looking to avoid stainless steel too, especially after all the recent media attention about lead.