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The author reflects on personal inconsistencies in design and engineering, contrasting with the extensive engineering behind everyday disposable items such as plastic water bottles.
Early water bottling used earthenware and glass, with brands like Evian and Coca-Cola adopting glass in the early 1900s, before the shift to plastics.
Coca-Cola's acrylonitrile copolymer bottles (1975-1977) failed due to health risks from leaching, leading to an FDA ban and a pivot to PET materials.
Injection Stretch Blow Molding (ISBM) is the modern process for making PET bottles, involving preforms that are heated, stretched, and blown into shape at high speeds.
Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), developed by DuPont, became dominant for bottles due to its strength, clarity, and safety, with production scaling massively since the late 1970s.
The bottled water boom in the 1990s, led by brands like Aquafina and Dasani, drove lightweighting and efficiency in bottle design, reducing plastic use and costs.
Modern bottles, such as Niagara's Eco-Air, use minimal plastic (wall thicknesses under 0.17 mm) and are optimized for logistics, though recycling remains a challenge with mixed outcomes.
Recycling issues include glass contamination and PET bottles often ending up in landfills or as litter, despite efforts to use recycled materials.

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