{"id":655488,"date":"2026-05-21T01:03:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T01:03:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655488\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T01:03:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T01:03:10","slug":"what-heat-does-to-plastic-water-bottles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/655488\/","title":{"rendered":"What heat does to plastic water bottles."},"content":{"rendered":"

As the hot Texas summer approaches, you may be like me. There\u2019s always bottled water in my car. I was convinced that on the scale of safe water, the bottled variety was at the top and tap water was at the bottom. Now, based on my research<\/a> I may have to flip those two.<\/p>\n

To my chagrin, it\u2019s not only the water that may be bad. It\u2019s the plastic container that holds the water.<\/p>\n

In heat, the plastic breaks down into harmful particles called\u00a0microplastics and nanoplastics. Both of these\u00a0can harm your body in different ways, scientists say.<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t about\u00a0PFAS<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 or \u201cforever chemicals\u201d<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 found in many products and tap water, a subject I\u2019ve previously reported<\/a> on.
This is about those water bottles, left in the sun, exposed to heat and refilled.<\/p>\n

You know how your doctors tell you to drink lots of water every day? Maybe not.<\/p>\n

Medical studies, many involving animals, are ongoing and filled with uncertainty. Some scientists believe that when used bottles break down, they can lead to heart attacks, strokes and even death.<\/p>\n

Studies or not, I no longer will refill bottles.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also more aware of storing food in plastic containers. I\u2019m glad that in our household, Karen has established a no-plastics-in-microwave rule. Glass containers are ideal.<\/p>\n

Microplastic particles can be found in air, water, food and soil.<\/p>\n

Use glass containers whenever possible. It\u2019s almost impossible to eliminate them entirely because plastics are so pervasive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Environmental Working Group recommends ditching single-use bottles and replacing them with glass or stainless steel bottles.<\/p>\n

Store water in the refrigerator since heat degrades plastic.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Transporting water on a hot day? Use an ice chest. And here\u2019s the recommendation that most surprised me.<\/p>\n

Run the tap water if it hasn\u2019t been used in several hours before plunging in.<\/p>\n

Store the filtered water in the fridge, if possible.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re confused because some experts say switch to tap water while others say drink bottled water, Welcome to The Watchdog Water Club, where confusion is the norm.<\/p>\n

Note: In a recent column I shared Consumer Reports\u2019 research on best filters. Here it is again.<\/p>\n

The first in each list are ranked as the highest rated. Prices shown are estimates. Shop for the lowest prices.
\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0Under sink filters: GE Under Sink (from $129); Multipure Aquaversa MP75o (from $620); Culligan US-EZ-4 (from $76).
\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0Countertop filters: Home Master TMJRF2 (from $80); Apex MR 1050 (from $85).
\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0Water pitcher filters: Brita Denali with Elite Filter (from $31); Culligan Zero Water ZD-012-RP (from $40); Brita Tahoe (from $42).
\u2022 \u00a0 \u00a0Faucet-mounted filters: ZeroWater Extremelife ZFM (from $45); Pur FM-3333B (from $26).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the hot Texas summer approaches, you may be like me. There\u2019s always bottled water in my car.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":["post-655488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}