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We use Food-Grade PCR Polypropylene for our lid - the only bit of plastic in the bottle.

Choosing food-grade post-consumer recycled (PCR) polypropylene over virgin polypropylene offers significant environmental and economic benefits by diverting plastic waste from landfills and drastically reducing our reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels.

It is especially impactful because successfully purifying everyday consumer waste to safe, food-grade standards is a rigorous achievement—helping drive a true circular economy—while also addressing a major global gap, as only about 9.5% of plastics produced in 2022 were made from recycled materials, highlighting the vital importance of replacing virgin plastics with high-quality PCR streams.

We avoid plastics wherever possible in our packaging designs. Whether that is for ties or retail hangers, we design around it to solve retail challenges with recyclable paper designs.

Plastics are known endocrine disruptors, meaning they wreck or mess with reproductive systems. Additives associated with plastic manufacturing can also cause harm to living creatures. While the majority of studies from the last 15 years have been focused on establishing myriad harms that microplastics can cause to creatures in and around the water, it has only been over the last few years that studies to understand the implications for humans have surfaced. 

Recent studies have established correlations (not causations, but still enough to give us a scare) between the presence of microplastics in various parts of the human body, including everything from behavior change to disrupted gut biome, reduced fertility and even heart attack, stroke and death. 

• Low-income communities of color are hit hardest by health impacts.
• Plastic pollution hurts people who work in fishing and farming.
• Plastic waste often ends up in developing countries, putting the burden on them.

We use recycled stainless steel—an alloy of iron, carbon, chromium, and nickel—because it’s durable, endlessly recyclable, and doesn’t break into microplastics. It’s naturally reusable: use it, recycle it, and use it again.

Stainless steel is non-toxic, does not leach chemicals like plastics, and resists bacteria growth. It's also durable and doesn't require plastic or chemical liners to be used in food grade products.

Switching to stainless steel and food-grade silicone cuts plastic use by 69% compared to a standard 21-ounce plastic bike bottle.

Our nozzle, straw, and gasket are made of silicone. Silicone is great, because it's an inert material known for its durability, limited odor transfer, and food safety.

In 2021, we upgraded all silicone parts to LFGB‑compliant silicone, the highest global standard for food‑grade silicone. Silicone doesn't leach chemicals or shed microplastics or nanoplastics.

Continuous improvement is our goal for Bivo and this includes the material in our lid.

Our lid is made from high-quality plastic that has undergone extensive testing to meet the most stringent chemical safety standards (aka safe for all of us!)

We have replaced the remaining plastic in our lids with 100% FDA compliant post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic.

Each update brings us closer to a nearly plastic-free bottle without compromising performance. Read more about our lids here.

• BPA, BPF, & BPS free — and free of bisphenols, flame retardants, OPFRs, and heavy metals like cadmium and lead. These chemicals are commonly found in plastics, coatings, and inexpensive metal parts. Many are linked to hormone disruption or long-term health risks. Being free of them means our bottles don’t leach these substances into your water, even with heat, sunlight, or daily use.
• LFGB compliant — we voluntarily run seven tests instead of the required one. LFGB is Germany’s strict food‑contact standard for silicone. It verifies whether anything from the material can migrate into food or drink. Only one test is required, but we conduct seven to confirm safety across heat, acidity, repeated use, and more.
• Phthalate-free — tested in every new color and material. Phthalates are chemicals used to soften plastics and are linked to developmental and reproductive harm. We test every new silicone color and each new material batch to ensure none are present.
• PFAS‑free — all components, accessories and packaging tested negative. PFAS are “forever chemicals” that accumulate in the body and the environment. Independent labs have confirmed that all our bottle components, accessories and packaging have no added PFAS.
• Lead‑free — Most stainless steel bottles use a small glass bead at the base to seal the vacuum. While some manufacturers use lead-containing beads, we don’t. Most stainless steel bottles use a small glass bead at the base to seal the vacuum, while some manufacturers use lead-containing beads. We don’t. Our beads are fully lead‑free, so there’s no risk of lead exposure from the bottle’s construction. A thank you goes to HydroFlask for this one, for pioneering safer water bottle manufacturing way back in 2012.

We meet all FDA requirements, and we don’t stop there. For every material we use, we test beyond FDA standards to the far more stringent EU REACH benchmark — one of the world’s toughest frameworks for restricting harmful chemicals. 

For silicone components specifically, we also meet Germany’s LFGB standard, which goes deeper than FDA by evaluating additives, colorants, and overall material safety. Together, REACH and LFGB guide how we build long‑lasting, low‑impact gear that’s safe for people and the planet.

We built Bivo bottles, nozzles, and straws to be entirely removable and dishwasher-safe. Our lid design is purposefully clear of nooks and crannies to allow easier access to clean each and every part of our product.

By designing with modularity in mind, we reduce the risk of any specific parts breaking our entire product. This offers customers the chance to replace parts if they are lost or broken easily and extending the life of our products even further.

By making the bottle easy to clean and using metal that doesn't leach chemicals or hold onto funky tastes, this ensures you need to buy fewer bottles over your lifetime.

If you are ever finished with your bottle, the bottle base can go straight into your municipal recycling bin, as it's easily recyclable!

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) audits are broad, voluntary assessments that evaluate a company's overall ethical, social, and environmental impact, whereas amfori BSCI (Business Social Compliance Initiative) audits are specific, structured, third-party evaluations focused specifically on monitoring and improving labor standards—such as fair pay, health and safety, and no child labor—across a company's supply chain. While CSR provides the overarching framework for ethical business conduct, the BSCI audit is a specialized tool under that umbrella designed to uphold a 13-principle Code of Conduct aimed at ensuring ethical, legal, and humane working conditions among suppliers. Essentially, a BSCI audit helps businesses fulfill a major component of their broader CSR commitment to ethical sourcing.

We’re always doing what we can along our supply chain to reduce our environmental impact, even if it's minute. As an example, we're testing water based paint finishes on our bottles, which result in cleaner finishes, which means cleaner air, cleaner water, and ultimately a healthier bottle.

Compared to a 100% virgin‑material baseline, our recycled‑content bottles have:

• Bivo One: 46.4% lower carbon footprint
• Bivo Duo: 47.8% lower
• Bivo Trio: 39.0% lower
• Trio Mini: 37.1% lower

We made the choice to switch to recycled stainless steel and recycled plastic for the lids. Using recycled stainless steel cuts the global warming potential of our primary material by more than half.

How we ship our bottles from our factory to Vermont matters.

Ocean freight produces about 0.04 kg CO₂e per bottle, while air freight emits 2.59 kg CO₂e — a 64-fold increase. CO₂e (carbon dioxide equivalent) is a standardized measure of the total climate impact of all greenhouse gases combined into a single number. 

Using this measurement allows us to compare shipping methods directly, which is why we prefer ocean freight whenever possible.

To offset our carbon emissions, we partner with The Gold Standard, a top benchmark for carbon-reduction projects. We support the Cleaner,Safer Water in Cambodia initiative, which helps people use fewer wood-burning stoves, protects forests, and creates manufacturing jobs—women hold nearly half of them.

The Gold Standard is widely recognized for rigorous verification and real climate and community benefits.

We were simply sick of receiving so many branded boxes of products inside shipping boxes, so (like many brands) we ship our products inside a shipping-ready box that also looks fun when it arrives on your doorstep.

In our previous lives (PB - pre Bivo) we were in product and apparel development for many years in the sports performance space. We have tried for years to reduce the amount of poly bags that products get shipped individually in. So we did. We changed it so your Bivo comes wrapped (like a sandwich!!) in recycled paper.

We print all our packaging materials with soy based inks. They are made form a renewable source, and biodegradable, and producing fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and hazardous waste. Soy ink is also known for creating deeper, more vibrant colors due to the clarity of soy oil, also provides better rub resistance, superior print quality, and easier, more cost-effective paper recycling.