By MIA CALIVA

“Save The Turtles” was the trendy saying of refillable water bottle users, popularized on social media in 2019. The idea behind the saying was to discourage the use of disposable plastic straws and plastic water bottles and encourage the switch to reusable bottles. Using reusable containers and utensils reduces the harmful effects of plastic pollution on all environmental habitats, including those of sea turtles, sea life, and even human habitats.

This saying was born from a teen lifestyle trend on social media, where youths known as VSCO girls,  characterized for their fashion consisting of puka shell jewelry and hair scrunchies always have their hallmark “accessory”: a colorful Hydro Flask. 

VSCO girls made Hydro Flasks widely popular, resulting in a tri-fold increase in sales for Hydro Flask, according to the e-commerce experience platform Bloomreach. Since Hydro Flasks, refillable water bottles have gained much popularity amongst all ages, especially the brands Stanley, Owala, and Yeti. 

As of this year, the latest refillable water bottle craze are Stanley cups, with many newly-released cups being sold out the instant they go out on shelves. Coffeehouse company, Starbucks, recently announced a collaboration with Stanley, releasing a Starbucks x Stanley line of insulated tumblers. The Pink Starbucks x Stanley Quencher cup gained so much attention that buyers formed lines outside Target stores, camping at a chance to grab one of the cups. Many videos of which went viral on Tiktok and Instagram. Some Target stores had to place a restriction on Stanley purchases to a “two cup limit per guest.” 

Evidently, refillable water bottles have become absurdly trendy. Instead of being solely utilized for its purpose, a water bottle, Stanleys, HydroFlasks, Owalas, and more have become an accessory, a fashion piece. Consumers on TikTok show off their Stanley “collections” showing an unnecessary number of steel water bottles.

Of course, the intention behind these refillable water bottle companies was never to become a consumerism craze.

Despite their trending popularity that other companies might see as an opportunity to monetize, the brand Hydro Flask, remains true to what they say is their corporate responsibility, “design[ing] for the environment to eliminate single-use products and to reduce waste” through “reusable products, material choices, and smart packaging.”

Although Stanley can do better to advertise their water bottles as less of a fashion accessory, they also state that the company has “created reusable, Built For Life™ products for over 100 years, reducing demand for disposable products that end up in waste and water streams” in addition to being “committed to sustainable practices across our entire supply chain, from manufacturing to recycled materials to packaging.”

These water bottle companies are detrimental to creating a plastic-free future, as an estimate of 33 billion pounds of plastic enter the ocean each year, according to ocean conservation organization Oceana. Thus, using refillable water bottles, especially ones made of recyclable stainless steel, is an easy way to avoid plastic waste, however it defeats the purpose of being environmentally friendly if a consumer has an entire collection of refillable bottles. 

Although stainless steel water bottles are a far better alternative to plastic bottles, their manufacturing is not completely environmentally friendly. To cancel out the impacts of the manufacturing process, a steel water bottle is meant to be used for years or even a lifetime when well taken care of. In this way, unnecessary consumerism and plastic waste can be reduced. Avoid buying reusable water bottles for trends or as a fashion accessory. The easiest way to be environmentally friendly is to use products to their fullest extent, especially those that are meant to last for many years.

Feature image: An original image picturing several trendy reusable water bottle brands and sea turtles, representing the environmentally-friendly impact usage of reusable bottles supposedly has (ETHIC NEWS/MIA CALIVA).