Sigg Water Bottle Paint Peeling

I bought two Nalgene bottles two years ago.  I found them useful when going backpacking and at ultimate tournaments, both places where water is not always readily available but necessary to stay alive.  College fashion dictated that carrying a water bottle around was necessary to look hip, and having a water bottle with me during the day meant that I drank plenty of fluids, undoubtedly a healthy byproduct of looking trendy.  That is until, oh no!, reports came out that Nalgene bottles contain the chemical bisphenol A (BPA), a compound that mimics the hormone estrogen and has been linked to cancer, infertility, and developmental diseases in animals.  The plastic industry said it was all hype, the FDA agreed with them, and independent studies said otherwise.  Nalgene phased out its BPA-made bottles, and consumers turned to other options, like the stainless steel Klean Kanteen and the aluminum and epoxy-lined Sigg bottles.

A friend recommended Sigg to me both because it does not contain BPA and water stored in it for a few days does not pick a plastic taste.  They sell Siggs in all kinds of colorful patterns, but I settled for a plain black, 0.6 liter flask design.  The water did taste much better, and though the lid takes longer to screw back on than a Nalgene lid, I got used to the differences and proudly toted my new hydration and fashion accessory everywhere with me.

A few weeks ago, I accidentally dropped the bottle onto pavement while riding my bike.  Some of the paint chipped off on the fall; nothing to worry about, I thought, that’s just what happens when you drop something onto the street.  More and more paint kept flecking off, however, just from daily use.  I found I could peel the paint off myself with my thumbnail, even in areas not already compromised by the fall.  Currently, my Sigg bottle looks like this:

Swiss Engineered?

The company claims their water bottles are “Swiss Engineered,” but the peeling paint makes mine look shoddy.  No one else I know has had this problem, and I suspect that the bottles sold with fancy designs don’t peel as easily.  I don’t particularly mind, because as I said, the water does taste better and there’s at least one less potentially toxic chemical to come in contact with, but still– if I pay 20 dollars for a water bottle, I’d hope it would look nice for more than a month.  If you do care about durability and aesthetics, maybe look somewhere else, or buy a bottle without a paint coating.

And in the end, we’re all kind of screwed when it comes to chemicals and toxins…so maybe I’ll just go back to Nalgene.

Tags: bisphenol A, health, nalgene, sigg, sigg paint peeling, water bottles