Each day, Mrs. Carmen Colhour sees popular brands of water bottles in the lost and found bin and area of the front office. Whether they are left in classes, sports events, the lunch area, or anywhere on campus, water bottles are collected and often times never picked up. 

[Since] everything’s disposable [and] everything is replaceable it’s easy to do so [people] don’t care,” Colhour said. 

Within any Target, Dicks Sporting Goods or REI, the shelves are filled with different brands of reusable water bottles. Many companies have begun marketing the convenience of reusable water bottles, due to the growing awareness of environmental issues and the value of staying hydrated has led to a spike in the market for the switch between plastic to reusable. The market was valued at 8.3 billion USD in 2022 and predicted to reach 11.5 billion by 2023. 

“I got my hydro flask mainly for basketball but I also like how it’s healthier for the environment since it’s reusable,” Mason Marsh said.

In addition to the health and environmental benefits of reusable water bottles, companies like Hydro Flask and Stanley market their bottles to be high quality and trendy items. In 2016, Hydro Flask’s current competitor, Stanley, launched their Quencher 2.0 product. Due to the rapid growth of popularity on TikTok, the company’s revenue increased from 74 million to 750 million in 2016 to 2023. With TempShield technology, the brand ensures your water will stay cold for 11 hours, 2 days when iced. The range of colors and variety of sizes adds more appeal to their audience.

“I bought my Stanley since a lot of people had it. I love the straw since a lot of other water bottles don’t have one,” Payton Wong said. “But, I’ve heard about how you have to clean them since they can get moldy.”

After the pushback from consumers on getting mold in their water bottles the company created and released a step-by-step tutorial on how to prevent mold. Luckily for the brand, shortly after, a video on TikTok had gone viral of a woman under the user of @danimarielettering. The video showed her undamaged Stanley with her car full of ash after being lit on fire. Fans were shocked when ice was found still inside the cup. After the video reached 60 million views, the company offered to gift Danielle Lettering with a new car. For their Valentine’s Day collection people are lining up to get their hands on the new collection. Recently, Target stores limited purchases of Stanley cups to on estimated one to three per customer.

“When I saw that the Stanly survived the car fire, I thought it was so crazy and since then I’ve seen more survive like in a house fire too. I have a Stanley and I think it’s just so amazing how a water bottle is so durable that it could survive a fire,” Caleb Kinnan said. 

The Yeti brand was founded in 2006 by Roy Seiders and Ryan Seiders who were outdoor enthusiasts, frustrated by the cheaply built coolers and water bottles available on the market. Rambler water bottles are made of stainless steel and a double wall vacuum-sealed insulation to keep beverages hot or cold for long periods of time.

“I like my water bottle. It’s good for track, it keeps me hydrated and it stays cold all day. It’s easy to clean and doesn’t mold. It’s also really heavy duty. It doesn’t get dented easily like hydro flasks I’ve had,” Elleia Patterson said.

Owala launched in 2020 and since then, #owala has over 223.7M TikTok views and over 40,000 five star reviews. They are dedicated to creating an environmentally friendly water bottle. They use eco-friendly materials such as BPA free plastics to help reduce environmental impact. It is designed with a push-open lid and carry loop that also works as a lock.

“I wanted this water bottle because I kept seeing it over TikTok and people saying how it’s very antibacterial,” Angeline Roux said. “I like how easy it is to clean and how it doesn’t mold like my Hydro Flask.”

by SOFIA DUNMORE & JULIA LEVERON HIDALGO