Plastic number on a 5 gallon water bottle.?

Question

Can anyone tell us if they have any number other than 7 within the triangle on the back of a five gallon water bottle? We ordered water delivery and figured out that the five gallon bottle they delivered has number seven. It seems the worst number for plastic and leaches bad plastic chemicals is what we read. Just wondering if it's okay for these huge bottles to have number 7. Because they are PC plastic or something. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Number 7 Plastics

Miscellaneous

Found in: Three- and five-gallon water bottles, 'bullet-proof' materials, sunglasses, DVDs, iPod and computer cases, signs and displays, certain food containers, nylon

Recycling: Number 7 plastics have traditionally not been recycled, though some curbside programs now take them.

Recycled into: Plastic lumber, custom-made products

A wide variety of plastic resins that don't fit into the previous categories are lumped into number 7. A few are even made from plants (polyactide) and are compostable. Polycarbonate is number 7, and is the hard plastic that has parents worried these days, after studies have shown it can leach potential hormone disruptors.

Sounds nasty to me. number 1 is the safest, but I try and use glass.

Answer 2

All 5-gallon water jugs have the #7 on them right now.

Although they've been proven to EVENTUALLY leach chemicals into the water, it would take not only years, but high temperatures and many, many reuses of the bottle.

The FDA regulates the packaging of water just like it regulates the packaging of food.  The FDA has set a limit on the number of times a 5-gallon bottle of water can be reused by the water company at 100 uses.  The majority of the companies, however, will only reuse the bottles a total of 25 times to be extra safe.  They also frequently check water that has been in the bottles, and check the bottles themselves for the amount of chemicals that are being "leached."

Even if the bottles were releasing what the maximum amount of chemicals that tests have shown they could release, it would still mean the average adult has to drink about 1,000 gallons of water in ONE DAY to reach what the FDA says is unsafe.

I wont overload you with all of the numbers, but here's the website that explains it all.  http://www.bisphenol-a.org/?gclid=CK3Ozt...

Answer 3

I have always been told that the higher the number the higher the chances of having toxins release in the fluid...  I was told if the number was higher than 3 or 4 to toss it and not use it.  That is with normal size water bottles, I am not sure about the large thicker botlles though..  Sorry.

Answer 4

I was reading that #7 was pulled from the shelves in Canada, even Walmart's shelves there.  I didn't have time to fully research it but did find several stories of bottles being pulled.  Good Luck!!