In my personal experience it is easier to avoid producing plastic waste at home than while traveling. On the road I found, the majority of the plastic waste I produced was by buying bottled water. While I would usually carry a general bottle to be refilled with tap water. My purchases of bottled water increase exponentially in countries where the tap wather was considered unsafe. One option to still being able to drink tap wather is to use a bottle with integrated filter.
Ironically, countries in which the tap water is considered unsafe usually also have a bigger problem with plastic waste. This means that the impact of you using a bottle with integrated filter is even bigger here. This is why I tested such a bottle for the first time on my trip to Morroco last November.
Which bottle I chose
While there are different brands who sell these bottles, I decided to test the Water-to-Go bottle since it promised to filter 99.9% of all bacteria, viruses, protozoa and cysts as well as flouride, chlorine and heavy metals. In addition, it takes away general bad taste and odour. It is possible to exchange the filter without having to exchange the whole bottle.
One filter lasts 2 months or approximately 130 liters. The bottle even features a time strip which you can activate when you start using it. The strip will tell you when it is time to change the filter. Also, when you exchange the filter, the old one can be recycled!
The first test: 10 days in Morroco
My partner and I used this bottle on our trip to Morroco and refilled it with tap water whenever possible. Drinking Moroccoan tap water isn´t too dangerous, but it is generally not recommended to drink. With our bottle, we gave it a try anyways. The water tasted good and we did not encounter any physical problems throughout the trip.
Unfortunately the first half of the trip the bottle kept making a weird squeaking sound everytime we drank from it. We tried different tips on how rinse the filter to eliminate this sound. None of them helped. One day in the middle of the trip the bottle suddenly stopped making the weird noise. Wheather it was because enough water had flown through the bottle or it was a problem with our particular one, I do not know.
What was really annoying though was that we could not drink all the water from the bottle. Once about 80 percent of the water had been consumed, the rest did not reach the filter anymore. This is no problem when you are somewhere with fast-to-reach water supply. It gets frustrating though when this happens while you are somewhere with no possibility to refill the bottle.
So what was our conclusion
Overall one bottle was too small for two people. If you do not travel on your own, maybe consider bringing more than one bottle. WaterToGo also offers bigger bottles.
Despite the problems we encounterd, we definetly bought less single use plastic on our trip. This made me very happy and is the first step for more responsible traveling. Being responsible does not mean that you never ever use single use plastic, but to reduce it as much as possible.
Where there is a first test there will be more
Of course, this was only a first personal test and there is no guarantee that you will never get sick by using a bottle with waterfilter. We will definetly take the bottle to other places and see how it goes. I do feel confident enough however, to generally encourage you getting a bottle with integrated filter. If you can have a positive impact on the world and save money at the same time, why not give it a try?
As I said in the beginning, there are different manufacturers of bottles with integrated filters. If you want to get a bottle with integrated filter by Water-to-Go, you can use this code for a 20 percent discount: TR20.
Have you ever used a bottle with integrated filter before? If so, and it was from a different brand, I would love to hear about your experience!
The post Responsible travel practices #1: Using a bottle with integrated filter appeared first on Travel Responsibly.