Keeping Your Reusable Water Bottle and Coffee Mug Clean and Bacteria Free

 

            Many of us have a favourite reusable water bottle or coffee mug. When you see what can happen if you don’t make cleaning of these items a daily routine, you will surely commit to washing your container every day.

            A Treadmills Review study determined the average water bottle has approximately 313,499 CFU (Colony-forming units of bacteria). By comparison, they found a dog’s chew toy has 2,937 CFU.

            When Treadmills swabbed 12 various water bottles they found that slide-top water bottles carried the most germs at 933,340 CFU. Squeeze-top bottles had 161,971 CFU and screw-top bottles had 159,060 CFU.

            Their study estimated that 60% of the germs found could make you sick. Water bottles tested by Treadmills detected both harmful and often antibiotic-immune bacteria, called Gram-negative rods and Gram-positive cocci which are capable of causing strep and staph infections on some of the samples.

            Water Filter Guru also commissioned a study which showed a reusable water bottle can have 40,000X the bacteria of a toilet seat.

            Besides the micro-organisms that grow inside your reusable container, Charles P. Gerba, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology and environmental science told Shape dot com, “Your hands may pick up viruses from touching various surfaces, which then get transferred to the bottle and eventually to your mouth.”

            These research findings demonstrate how important it is to your health to be drinking from a thoroughly cleaned bottle or mug.

            Follow these guidelines to ensure you do not consume harmful bacteria along with your water, coffee or other beverage when you drink from a reusable vessel.

            Getting your bottle or mug clean is an easy task and a habit you can learn to do every day.

            To get started, add a squirt of dishwashing liquid to your bottle or mug then fill it with water and put the cover on tightly. Shake briskly for about a minute. If there is a removable rubber seal, remove it and clean it separately in hot water with dish detergent.

            For the next step, use a bottle brush to clean the inside and outside of the container.

            There are several multi-use bottle brushes on the market. As suggestions, both the ALINK 8-Pack Bottle Cleaning Brush Set and the Holikme 8 Pack Bottle Brush Cleaning Set have high customer ratings at Amazon Canada.

            After you finish cleaning with the bottle brush, rinse the container with water and thoroughly dry with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel. Using a dish rag or towel that has already been used could transfer bacteria onto your bottle or mug.

            In addition to dish soap, using vinegar is an easy extra step that can help ensure your container really is as clean as it can be. White vinegar is inexpensive, even for a large jug. After you have finished cleaning your container, fill it half full of vinegar. Tighten the cover and shake for 30 seconds. Pour the vinegar down the sink and rinse the receptacle with water and continue on to drying with paper towels or a fresh kitchen towel.

            When you move on to scouring the top, first separate any removable parts and note which parts may just push back and forth (they will have to be cleaned in one position and then the other). Rubber seals on cup lids are designed to help keep beverages hot or cold but they also provide the perfect environment, a dark and moist area for fungal mould and bacteria to grow. It is a good idea to pay attention to the rubber seals as they can easily be forgotten.

Scrub all parts in the sink with hot, soapy water. If you do not have a bottle brush set, a clean toothbrush will help you get to those hard to reach places. When finished be sure all parts are thoroughly dried using the towels suggested above.

Carolyn Forte, the director of the home appliances and cleaning products labs at the Good Housekeeping Institute offers, “To get rid of all the residue and resulting mould, you should totally disassemble the tumbler and scrub all the pieces by hand in hot, soapy water to be sure they are clean.” She continues, “These cups and thermal carafes have removable seals for a reason. While the dishwasher is great, it can’t do everything and it can’t clean under these seals. In fact, water from the dishwasher can actually get trapped in there, which causes mould to grow.”

You should also deep clean your bottle or mug about once a week. Your efforts will dispose of any harmful bacteria that might be lurking on the container’s surfaces, waiting to possibly make you sick.

To do a deep cleaning, simply add 1 tsp of bleach and 1 tsp of baking soda to your reusable bottle or mug then fill it to the brim with cold water. Be sure to remove the rubber ring, if there is one, and sanitize it with the cover. After sitting overnight, rinse the container and dry with methods mentioned earlier.

In order to do the same with the cover, detach any removable parts then put the cover and rubber ring in a bowl. To the bowl, add 1 tsp of bleach and 1 tsp of baking soda then cover the parts with water. Insure that all parts are completely immersed and leave them overnight, as well.

When you get up in the morning, all you have to do is rinse all the soaking parts under water, dry them completely and you are ready to start your day knowing your reusable container is bacteria and mould free.

            Stats Canada reported, “In 2021, 9 in 10 Canadian households had at least one person who used their own water bottle, with 85% of those households doing so always or often.” These statistics show a propensity for Canadians to move toward a more environmental way to consume beverages, naturally leading to less one-time-use containers ending up in a landfill. At least we are going in the right direction.

Instead of taking a chance and drinking possible harmful bacteria, make it a daily routine to proper clean your reusable water and coffee mugs in addition to doing a deep soaking on a weekly basis.