It seemed a fad; another passing trend, a product everyone would buy and then leave at the back of their cupboards for years to come. However, metal water bottles are here to stay, it seems. Every other person it appears, has one, and every other shop sells them in bright colours or plain shades. Many brands have thrived on this trend, and water bottles have almost become a fashion accessory, with many people owning several. Brands like ‘Hydro flask’ and ‘Chilly’ have exploited the teen audience’s lust to save the planet and looks stylish whilst doing it. But why metal? Why not reusable plastic water bottles? Glass? Why of all materials have teenagers and young people chosen cylinders of metal to carry around with them everywhere like spoiled pets?
First of all, metal is durable, obviously, and doesn’t smash like it’s previous competitor, glass. Plastic is obviously out of the question, because the whole point of the metal water bottle craze is to wage war on plastic and save the planet. However, plastic water bottles can be reusable and, now with modern technology, are almost all BPA free and easier to carry around than heavy, cumbersome metal bottle. Metal water bottles, as well, are extremely expensive! If you’re looking for an average metal water bottle, you’re looking at spending £20 at least, and that’s for the dreaded plain, unstylish ones, and that’s somehow worse for many possessors of the bottles than being up to fifty pounds (!!) poorer.
However, there’s one thing that metal water bottles offer that the dreaded enemy of plastic, smashable glass and any other probably just as disappointing alternatives offer. Coolness. Convenience. Metal water bottles offer your water (or any other beverage one desires, in fact) to be cooled for up to twenty-four hours. Now we know the secrets as to why metal water bottles are so popular amongst teens and young adults. This is where the writer admit that she herself does actually posses one of these water bottles purely because of the fact that it keeps her water cold. However, I do not possess one with a jazzy print or bold colour, so that’s something. All in all, it does seem that metal water bottles have been a trend for long enough that having one is seen as normal behaviour. The idea of carrying a refillable water bottle around with you has assimilated into cities rather well, with London installing water fountains around the city for possessors of aforementioned water bottles to fill up, therefore reducing the plastic consumption, therefore polluting the oceans less, therefore saving the planet one water bottle at a time.
Annie Fogden
