this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2025
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Today I Learned

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I done fucked up. I know some of my drink cups say handwash only, but I thought that was due to their vacuum chambers.

I assumed (wrongly) that these two bottles would be ok. They are clearly not made from whatever Nalgene is made from.

Meanwhile, I have some cheap vacuum wall plastic tumblers from Walmart, going on 15 years now, that I've always tossed in the dishwasher.

Also, I'm getting strong deja vu from my shrinky dink bottles. Have I done this before? Or seen a post on here if the same? I can't recall.

Edit: hello adhd brain, I forgot to provide details. Red 1L Nalgene for scale. The two bottles beside it used to be the same size before yesterday. ☹️

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[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah I gave up on free swag for exactly this reason. If I have to hand wash it, it’s not free. If I only get one use out of it, it’s worse for the environment than a disposable water bottle. Sometimes “free” is just too expensive

[–] Sibbo@sopuli.xyz 59 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I just decided to buy glass bottles. The are nice ones with a removable rubber cover that can nicely go into the dishwasher. And they don't taste or smell like plastic after a while.

[–] starlinguk@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago

I have metal ones. Much lighter.

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Perhaps, but I would be too hard on glass bottles while I'm adventuring.

These were free swag though at a volunteer thank you party. I'm only upset that I can no longer covertly signal to the other local volunteers that I'm part of the club. 😄

[–] happysplinter@lemmy.world 2 points 16 hours ago

Ask for a stickers the next time you volunteer there. Slap that bad boy on the nalgene, and after it falls off in the wash, pop another on there! Stickers solve lots of minute problems.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

Yeah but lot of them use plastic seals. I have a glass water bottle wood top. But freaking plastic in the lid of that cup.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 30 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I’m working on ousting all plastic foodware from my life if at all possible. Glass, ceramic, metal, or silicone only pls.

It’s slow going, but there’s some wins.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I’ve done pretty well with this: stainless and cast iron pans, wood cutting boards, stainless or silicone utensils, glass food storage, stainless water bottles …… and I’m watching my rice cooker closely in anticipation for when I can rationalize replacing it with one having a stainless pan

[–] reddig33@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You might wanna stop drinking out of plastic if you can avoid it. If you’re gonna buy a water bottle, you can buy one made out of stainless steel and it’ll survive the dishwasher. Of course you’ll have to make sure you buy a reputable brand, otherwise It’ll be full of lead.

[–] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

I prefer glass because the taste of metal is unappealing to me. The lids unfortunately has a bunch of plastic and rubber polymers though.

I just float the water in the air using the Force

[–] logicbomb@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think it's the heat that done them in. Sometimes, dishwashers have modes that don't use a lot of heat, and I think it might also help to put heat sensitive things in the top rack. But even if you do that, I'm guessing that the kind of plastic that melts in the dishwasher probably won't be safe to drink from, even if it doesn't look like it melted.

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Yes, I assumed the heat was the culprit too. They were on the top rack, the cycle was normal not pots & pans, and I never use the dryer feature. My hot water heaters are in the attic though where it's a million degrees despite an attic fan heroically trying to provide some ventilation. I don't even need to have the water heaters turned on this time of year. When we first moved here a few years back in June, it took us 4 months to notice that the previous owner had turned the heaters off. I thought we had normal hot water all summer!!

[–] spankmonkey@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Dishwashers frequently have a heating element inside that heats the water as it cycles, and it gets pretty hot on most default cycles.

[–] card797@champserver.net 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

Survival in the dishes 🎶

[–] aarch64@programming.dev 8 points 2 days ago

Ha! Almost looks like it returned to the size it was as a blank, before blow molding.

[–] GiuseppeAndTheYeti@midwest.social 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Nalgene uses tritan for their plastic bottles btw

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 9 points 2 days ago

Also TIL, Tritan was developed by Eastman Chemical, the HQ of which is in a town not far from where I grew up. Old stomping grounds and the like. Good God if the wind was blowing the wrong way, the chemical factory would stink up the entire town. It didn't help there used to also be a paper pulp Mead plant there too, but Eastman was the biggest stinker.

[–] ShawiniganHandshake@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)

There used to be a show called Street Cents on CBC that focused on consumer and media awareness. On one episode, they torture tested Nalgene bottles.

It's been a while but if I'm remembering right, I watched them survive:

  • being thrown off a building
  • being run over by a bulldozer
  • being dipped in liquid nitrogen and hit with a hammer
  • being heated with a blow torch

The lids broke in some of the tests, especially if they had liquid in them, but the bottles themselves are basically indestructible.

I've seen a knock-off bottle break when somebody set a backpack down on it too hard.

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Nalgene bottles used to be made out of polycarbonate, a particularly robust plastic that they use for all manner of industrial things. Most safety glasses are polycarbonate, for example. It's nigh indestructible and cheap as hell.

Nalgene now uses a proprietary plastic they claim to be bpa free. It's likely not as strong as it used to be but probably still quite tough

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Btw, LOVE your user name! I call my trusty roadies sippy cups too. I have a shoe organizer full hanging on the pantry door. It's hard to resist an ultra cute sippy cup.

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 3 points 1 day ago

I am called sippy cup because after a drink or two I typically need one haha

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

Wonder when they changed the formula. Red is 22 years old. Maybe one of the OGs?

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago

Calling "Will It Blend"...!

[–] derpgon@programming.dev 7 points 2 days ago

Always look for the "dishwasher safe" logo

[–] Elkenders@feddit.uk 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Shrinky bottle Yeah, nothing happens to all of the food containers but my bottles shrivel at a warm bath.

At least the base is flared

[–] tipicaldik@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

haha this reminds me of a pair of flip-flops my wife had. They were left in the car, and one of them somehow ended up in the back window where it got super-heated by the sun. It was curled up and half the size of its mate when I found it. Couldn't tell you what they were made of...

[–] griff@lemmings.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That's just like your opinion dude

(maybe I prefer crockery)

[–] griff@lemmings.world 1 points 1 day ago

true…do enjoy your crock, my dude

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Now you have two bottle blanks. Here's how they're turned into bottles. https://youtu.be/kU_gH36GG58

[–] Errorcode7@programming.dev 4 points 2 days ago

lol I had this happen with one of mine

[–] Valmond@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Some plastic can be remolded because the molecules are long and sleek, others can't (thermoplasts?) because the molecules all attach together like Christmas trees.

[–] NutinButNet@hilariouschaos.com 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

This applies to metal ones too. While they won’t shrink, they can be damaged.

I put one of my metal water bottles in and it scraped up the sides quite a bit. Definitely was only meant for hand washing. Didn’t destroy it, but kind of ruined the nice finish it had.

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 days ago

My yetis and simply modern bottles are like this.

And my Mana's, too.

Don't care. Don't want to hand wash.

[–] KittenBiscuits@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

That could be more your detergent than the machine. If you use Dawn Platinum, that stuff removed the screen print ink off my pub glasses. That's how they can say you don't have to prerinse with it. Because it's just dissolving everything indiscriminately. It sure got the dishes squeaky clean, I'll give it that.

I've switched back to basic Palmolive detergent.

That’s a good point! Ever since that happened, I’ve made sure to read on the bottle/label and it’ll tell you whether they say it’s okay to dishwash or not.

Though I feel most secure hand washing. Ironic as I just washed mine today lol.

[–] hsdkfr734r@feddit.nl 2 points 2 days ago

Oooh. Put it in the machine once more? :)

[–] scytale@piefed.zip 1 points 2 days ago

I just don’t put any plastic in the dishwasher. I feel like the heat helps leech them into the rest of the items in there. To avoid handwashing, I’ve slowly replaced plastic containers with glass ones.