Admit it, you’re not cleaning your reusable bottle enough

Here's an unexpectedly confronting question: when did you last clean out your reusable water bottle? You know, the one that you've been toting around with you from the train to the office to the gym ad infinitum.

- Katie Rosseinsky, The Independent

The one that's developed a suspicious layer of grot around the lid that you're trying not to think about. That you accidentally left festering in the car on a swelteringly hot day. And when I say clean, I’m not just talking about a cursory slosh of fresh water and a bit of damage control around the neck — I mean a proper scrub, or at least a go-around in the dishwasher.

If we're being entirely, unflinchingly honest, the answer for most of us is probably something along the lines of “I've left it a little bit longer than I should have.” It’s all too easy to just throw your bottle in your bag before racing out the door, and make cleaning it a problem for tomorrow. Or the day after. But the stomach-churning truth is that our trusty vessels are actually harbouring quite a staggering amount of bacteria, often without us even realising it. In 2023, researchers from the US company Water Filter Guru swabbed reusable bottles and found that the average one was 40,000 times dirtier than a toilet seat. It's enough to put you off your recommended two litres per day.