I can taste the plastic I drink water from

[OAQfirst]

If the water stays in a plastic bottle for a while, I can taste the plastic in it. Plastic flavor. The taste is as it smells. Have any of you ever noticed this? Am I actually drinking plastic?

I don't find this taste in glasses or ceramic or metal. But it's definitely in the plastic and it's very gross.

 

[NeoDevin]

My guess would be that the flavour has more to do with it sitting for a while, rather than the plastic. When you drink water from a glass, you most likely drink it reasonably quickly.

As an experiment, try to get a glass bottle and a plastic bottle, leave them out for the same length of time, and then compare the taste (try to keep all other variables equal: lighting, heat, volume, etc.).

 

[JasonRox]

My guess would be that the flavour has more to do with it sitting for a while, rather than the plastic. When you drink water from a glass, you most likely drink it reasonably quickly.

As an experiment, try to get a glass bottle and a plastic bottle, leave them out for the same length of time, and then compare the taste (try to keep all other variables equal: lighting, heat, volume, etc.).

I agree, unless he's keeping the bottle next to a heater or out in the hot sun.

 

[Evo]

Odors tend to cling to plastic. There is/was a special dish soap that claimed to help remove odor from plastic.

 

[OAQfirst]

This is an observation over the last several years. I've eliminated everything I can think of. I even tried different kinds of plastic containers, old and new.

If it's cold water, I don't taste it. But once I use room temp water, the plastic taste is immediately present in the plastic containers, but not the other materials.

 

[Evo]

Try this.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf048395j

 

[OAQfirst]

I'm not the only one with this complaint. ThriftyFun reports "Cyclists' water bottles often come with a pungent plastic taste/odor." Though I'm familiar with their solution; it did little for my mouth.

WikiAnswers dismisses it as a visual psychological effect.

Ah, here's a page that reports plastic leaching chemicals into water. http://trusted.md/blog/vreni_gurd/2007/03/29/plastic_water_bottles

 

[turbo]

Polycarbonate water bottles (hard plastic bottles) release BPA into the liquids stored in them. It has been recommended that hard plastic baby bottles be discarded and replaced with glass (or plastic bottles that are free of BPA). Google on BPA and plastic to see where this is going. BPA is known to have estrogen-like effects on mice at levels often less than those experienced by humans, though long-term human studies have not been conducted as far as I know. There is a study from last fall referenced in the linked article, but I haven't bothered digging up the paper.

And a new study, released today, looked at urine samples in Americans and found that the higher the level of BPA, the more likely they were to have diabetes, heart disease and certain liver problems.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26723119/

 

[Evo]

I'm not the only one with this complaint. ThriftyFun reports "Cyclists' water bottles often come with a pungent plastic taste/odor." Though I'm familiar with their solution; it did little for my mouth.

WikiAnswers dismisses it as a visual psychological effect.

Ah, here's a page that reports plastic leaching chemicals into water. http://trusted.md/blog/vreni_gurd/2007/03/29/plastic_water_bottles

Did you read my post about the chemicals causing plastic to smell?

 

[OAQfirst]

Did you read my post about the chemicals causing plastic to smell?

That was English?

 

[maze]

I can taste the difference between soda in a plastic bottle vs a metal can, so what you say sounds reasonable.

 

[russ_watters]

I can taste the difference between soda in a plastic bottle vs a metal can, so what you say sounds reasonable.

Actually, cans are coated on the inside to prevent a metallic taste.

Many consumers find the taste of a drink from a can to be different from fountain drinks and those from plastic or glass bottles. In addition, some people believe that aluminum leaching into the fluid contained inside can be dangerous to the drinker's health.[6] The exact role (if any) of aluminum in Alzheimer's disease is still being researched and debated, though the scientific consensus is that aluminum plays no role in the development of the disease [7][8]. Aluminum cans contain an internal coating to protect the aluminum from the contents. If the internal coating fails, the contents will create a hole and the can will leak in a matter of days. There is some difference in taste, especially noticeable in beer, presumably due to traces of the processing oils used in making the can.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminum_can

I'm not sure I exactly buy that explanation though, as most people report beer tasting better in glass bottles than in aluminum cans. I'm still inclined to believe leeching in beer cans.

 

[lisab]

In a similar case, I definitely can sense a plastic taste on bread that has been kept in a plastic bag for several hours (a sandwich bag). Whether it's a taste or a smell may be in question, but that seems irrelevant; it really makes bread yucky.

 

[edward]

I can taste the difference between soda in a plastic bottle vs a metal can, so what you say sounds reasonable.

The cans are coated with polycarbonate. The soda bottles most likely are some other plastic

These uses create a myriad of exposures for people. Bisphenol A-based polycarbonate is used as a plastic coating for children's teeth to prevent cavities, as a coating in metal cans to prevent the metal from contact with food contents, as the plastic in food containers, refrigerator shelving, baby bottles, water bottles, returnable containers for juice, milk and water, micro-wave ovenware and eating utensils.

http://www.ourstolenfuture.org/NewScience/oncompounds/bisphenola/bpauses.htm

There is a recycle code on the bottom of most bottles.

http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/latest/recycling-symbols-plastics-460321

http://www.ides.com/resources/plastic-recycling-codes.asp

 

[Redbelly98]

I used to taste the plastic in cycling bottles, after a couple of hours or so. I don't taste it in the clear plastic bottles beverages come in, the ones with the "1" in the triangle (polyethylene terephthalate or "PETE").

 

[Blenton]

Sometimes i can taste the water i drink plastic from.

 

[chemisttree]

You are tasting something that is leaching from the plastic. It could be a plasticizer, UV stabilizer, lubricant, pyrolozates of all of these and/or the base polymer, and unreacted monomer(s). The fact that you taste it (in reality you smell it while you consume it) suggests that it is a volatile or semi volatile component. It is likely an additive. Phthalates are the most likely suspects.

 

[Moonbear]

There are some brands of bottled water that I could taste the plastic in, so didn't buy them. It's been so long since I've needed to buy bottled water, though, that I don't remember which brands they were, and I don't know if they've corrected the problem since then.