By John DeFore

The phenomenal success of single-serving bottled water is, in the eyes of most environmentalists, a scourge. Yet consumers seem slow to unlearn the habit, so a water packaged in non-petroleum-containing bottles should be a step in the right direction — right?

Doubt was cast on that recently when the popular Consumerist blog ran a post that may unsettle potential customers of the green-touting water brand Primo: When exposed to the high temperatures inside a closed car, a Primo bottle shrank to around half its original size.As this isn’t something one often sees with empty Coke bottles, speculation ran wild. If the solid material shrank, what liquids or gases had leached out of it? Were toxic chemicals floating around in the remaining beverage?

A company spokesman was quick to respond to the story, assuring potential customers that, since his bottles are “made from a renewable plant-based natural plastic” which contains no petroleum, “there should be no worry that any chemicals can leach into the Primo water.”

Though the spokesman offered the common-sense advice to keep beverages cool, he added: “Rigorous testing indicates that regardless of temperature, there is no known leaking of chemicals from Primo’s natural, petroleum-free bottle to the water inside. Primo single-serve bottles are also 100% BPA free.”

Issue closed, then — unless readers fail to find complete reassurance in the words “no known leaking.” Doubting Thomases who scout around the company’s FAQ will find other arguably vague language, like this reply to the question of whether Primo’s bottles, made from corn byproducts, are manufactured using genetically modified corn: the company says its bottle “does not contain genetic material, and its production does not require any genetic content from field corn.” Even if the plastic doesn’t contain genetic material, mightn’t the raw material be drawn from GM crops? Email inquiries on this and other questions were unanswered after five days.

Regardless of the answers, one thing seems clear. Whether a single-use bottle is potentially toxic or pure as new-fallen snow, it’ll always come up short against a clean reusable bottle filled up at home.

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