Bottle review

SPONSORED REVIEW – Reusable Stainless Steel Bottles From Refreshingly Transparent Sustainable Brand, Onegreenbottle

12th December 2020

The pressing need for the reduction of plastic waste has been a hot environmental topic for some time now, and sustainable alternatives have become a regular feature of many of our lives. For gym-goers, commuters and school kids, in particular, plastic bottles have been slowly replaced by reusable ones – in my 12-year-old stepdaughter’s class at secondary school, you’d actually be shunned for buying a disposable plastic bottle, so the message is definitely getting through!

Nowadays, you can go to any supermarket and you’ll probably be able to find reusable metal bottles for sale, but like many things, it pays to do some homework to make sure that what you’re buying has been manufactured and distributed in an eco-friendly and ethical manner; a rule of thumb that I use is that if the company doesn’t tell you where and how something is made, then it probably means it won’t tick either of those boxes.

Onegreenbottle is not one of them and they are totally transparent about their materials and operations. They very kindly gifted me one of their new bottles in luscious ‘Nougat’ finish from their Life collection – and it’s a beauty! But before we get into the design specifics, let’s look at the onegreenbottle company profile and ethos in more detail.

They state that they are ‘passionate about zero plastic packaging, obsessive over reducing carbon footprint and crazy about ethical production’ – so let’s see how they do it…

Ethical Production

Their manufacturer is based in Zhejiang, China and is held to high ethical and environmental standards – there are independent third-party accreditations and verifications in place to audit for:

  • working hours and compensation
  • occupational health and safety
  • protection for young workers
  • bonded labour
  • freedom of association
  • ethical business behaviour
  • discrimination
  • environmental protection

Reduced Carbon Footprint

At all stages of production, transport, travel and storage, onegreenbottle is endeavouring to actively minimise their carbon footprint, not just offset it. China is keen to utilise renewable energy so it is believed that in an industrial region like Zhejiang, they will be able to distance themselves from reliance on fossil fuels within a few years.

Seafreight accounts for a fraction of the carbon emissions of airfreight; their seafreight partner, OOCL, is an industry leader in environmentally responsible shipping with proactive efforts in the 4 key areas of emissions reduction, marine biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of resources, and environmental promotion.

Not content with resting on their environmental laurels, onegreenbottle have continued to seek out a European manufacturing base; having drawn a disappointing blank, they now plan to invest in the development of their own plant – now that’s commitment!

Plastic-Free Packaging

Yep, no plastic here! The bottle is lightly wrapped in tissue paper, encased in a recyclable paper tube (or get creative and repurpose it first – mine’s going to house some of our more delicate Christmas decorations once this festive season is done and dusted), and posted in a recyclable Kraft bag, made from sustainable sources.

Speaking of plastic, onegreenbottle have joined the Plastic Bank impact program, so for every reusable bottle sold, 25 single-use plastic bottles are removed from ocean-bound rubbish. They also plan to soon be able to use recycled polypropylene for their sports caps:

“Although this is currently more labour intensive and requires more energy than creating virgin pp we believe that pioneering practice will one day result in a sustainable or circular loop of plastic regeneration. Once we have perfected the process we can then use ocean harvested fishing nets and bottle caps to make our products.”

The Bottle

Onegreenbottle’s bottles are vacuum insulated with a triple wall construction of 304 grade (18/8) stainless steel, which ultimately means that they are effective, safe, durable and toxin-free. The neck of the bottle is wide enough to make cleaning easy (the unpainted styles are dishwasher safe, but these pretty painted ones prefer the TLC of washing by hand!).

There’s a detachable internal silicone straw (which is also non-toxic), and the BPA/BPS-free, non-leaching polypropylene sports cap is leakproof, whether you use the straw or not.

Looked after well, your bottle will give you many, many years of dutiful service; if you’re likely to subject your bottle to a fair bit of use and abuse (and ‘characterful’ dents and scratches aren’t your thing), you could either opt for an unpainted version or treat it to a cosy little bottle jacket (mine will be sporting an army-style one on its travels!).

To keep your bottle fully-functional for longer, there are replacement caps, seals, valves, and silicone straws available, as well as alternative cap styles and carry loops for it to fulfil its multi-functional destiny!

So for last-minute Christmas gifts for your eco-conscious loved ones, pop over to onegreenbottle, where you’ll also find and range of complementary stainless steel lunchboxes, recycled lunchbags, beeswax wraps and bamboo sporks for more sustainable meals on the go!