Which water bottles contain no plastic at all, lid included?
November 2026, short version: four bottles make the list, all Bronze. Nothing has earned Gold or Silver yet.
The first is the soulbottles swing-top out of Berlin. Glass body, porcelain stopper, steel bail and carry handle, and a seal cut from natural rubber instead of silicone. The design on the glass is ceramic ink fired into the surface at 700 degrees, so it is not a sticker and it will not peel. What we can't confirm: the glaze on the little logo on the stopper, the gold and silver print editions, and what the shipping box is made of. We've asked. A straight answer on the glaze moves it to Silver. A paper-only box would make it Gold.
The second is Klean Kanteen's brushed Insulated TKPro 16 oz: steel bottle, steel cup, steel cap, bare brushed finish. Two silicone rings seal the cap, which is the Bronze, and the painted colors are out because the powder coat is plastic. We don't know what the logo, base cap or vacuum plug are made of, and we've asked. The maker has pulled its own page and US stock is gone; a UK shop has it.
The third is Klean Kanteen's Reflect 27 oz with the bamboo cap. Steel body, bamboo cap, no paint, and one food-grade silicone seal, which is the Bronze. We can't tell yet how the bamboo is finished, what holds it to the steel, or how the logo is marked. We've asked.
The fourth is Klean Kanteen's Rise Reflect 20 oz with the bamboo cap. Double-wall steel body, bamboo cap, no paint, and one food-grade silicone seal, which is the Bronze. We don't know how the bamboo is finished, what holds it to the steel, what the base cap and logo are, and a reviewer says the cap handle can come off. We've asked.
What didn't make it. Pura's bottle is sold as 100% plastic-free; the lid you drink from is silicone, and so are the collar and the sleeve. Primus's TrailBottle has a Tritan lid. Klean Kanteen's brushed Classic ships with a polypropylene cap. You can buy their steel cap and swap it, but then you bought a plastic cap, and we rate a bottle the way it is sold. Also out: anything powder-coated, anything with a plastic cap in use, and every bamboo lid with a plastic insert hiding under it.
In this category, plastic-free almost always means plastic-free except the silicone. We tell you which silicone, and where it sits.
Side by side
Every water bottle we checked, the listed ones first and in rank order. The full evidence for each is one click away.
| Rank | Photo | Materials | Packaging | Price seen | The catch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Listed, in rank order | |||||
| 1 |  | soulbottles Glass drinking bottle 0.6 l, classic-color print (swing top) Bronze | |||
| glass, porcelain, natural rubber with natural chalk, stainless steel, ceramic screen-print ink, fired on; 3 minor parts unverified | Not verified yet | €29.90seen October 22, 2026 | no synthetic part at all; still unverified: the glaze on the stopper's logo, the gold and silver print editions, the packaging (we've asked). Classic-color print editions only. | ||
| 2 |  | Klean Kanteen Insulated TKPro 16 oz (Brushed Stainless) Bronze | |||
| 18/8 stainless steel, double-wall vacuum, double-wall stainless steel, stainless steel, bare brushed stainless, no coating; 4 minor parts unverified | Not verified yet | £38.95seen November 1, 2026 | Two silicone gaskets inside the cap, not one. Brushed Stainless only; the painted colors carry a plastic powder coat. Unknown, and asked about: what else is inside the cap, the logo, the base cap, and the vacuum plug and welds. The maker's own page returns an error and US sellers are sold out; Babipur (UK) sells it at GBP 38.95. Packaging not checked. | ||
| 3 |  | Klean Kanteen Reflect 27 oz with Bamboo Cap Bronze | |||
| 18/8 stainless steel, 90% post-consumer recycled, bamboo with a stainless steel core, none stated; 3 minor parts unverified | Not verified yet | $32.95seen November 4, 2026 | One silicone seal in the cap. Unknown, and asked about: the finish on the bamboo, the glue or fixing between bamboo and steel, and how the logo is marked. Packaging not checked. Sold in Mirrored and Brushed; both are described as uncoated. | ||
| 4 | Klean Kanteen Rise Reflect 20 oz with Bamboo Cap Bronze | ||||
| 18/8 stainless steel, 90% post-consumer recycled, sustainably harvested bamboo, none stated; 7 minor parts unverified | Not verified yet | $44.95seen November 6, 2026 | One silicone seal in the cap. Unknown, and asked about: the finish on the bamboo, the glue or fixing between bamboo and steel, the logo, the base cap, the cap handle and the vacuum plug. Packaging not checked. The maker's page shows it in stock; one US shop lists it sold out and another wouldn't load for us. | ||
| Checked, not listed | |||||
 | Klean Kanteen Classic 27 oz (brushed) Not listed | ||||
| 18/8 stainless steel, 90% post-consumer recycled, unlined stainless steel, bare brushed stainless | Not verified yet | Not linked | cap as sold (Flip Seal Sport Cap): polypropylene with silicone gaskets; logo on the brushed bottle: Klean Coat powder coat; Stainless Loop Cap (sold separately): 18/8 stainless steel with a food-grade silicone gasket | ||
| Primus TrailBottle 0.6 L Stainless Not listed | |||||
| 18/8 stainless steel | Not verified yet | Not linked | lid: Tritan | ||
 | Pura Big Mouth Sport 28 oz Not listed | ||||
| 18/8 stainless steel, bare stainless, unpainted | Not verified yet | Not linked | sport top (lid): platinum-cured silicone; sleeve: silicone; collar: silicone and stainless steel | ||
The list
Photo: soulbottles (soulbottles.com) 1
soulbottles Glass drinking bottle 0.6 l, classic-color print (swing top)
Bronze
Glass, porcelain, steel, and a seal cut from natural rubber. No silicone anywhere, which almost nothing else in this category can say. The design on the glass is ceramic ink fired into the surface at 700 degrees, so it is not a sticker and it will not peel. Three small things we can't confirm yet: the glaze on the little logo on the stopper (the maker's own blog describes a print that gets glazed and fired above 1,000 degrees, which points to ceramic, but nobody has said so outright), the gold and silver print editions, and what the shipping box is made of. We've asked soulbottles. A straight answer on the glaze moves this to Silver; a paper-only box would make it Gold.
- Materials
- glass (quartz sand; 60-80% recycled), porcelain, natural rubber with natural chalk (Fair Rubber), stainless steel, ceramic screen-print ink, fired on; 3 minor parts still unverified
- Packaging
- Not verified yet
- Price seen
- €29.90 on October 22, 2026
- Caveat
- no synthetic part at all; still unverified: the glaze on the stopper's logo, the gold and silver print editions, the packaging (we've asked). Classic-color print editions only.
Photo: Klean Kanteen (babipur.co.uk) 2
Klean Kanteen Insulated TKPro 16 oz (Brushed Stainless)
Bronze
A steel bottle with a steel cap and a steel cup, and nothing else we can find that you'd call plastic. The catch is the seal: two silicone rings inside the twist-and-pour cap. That's what makes it Bronze. It's the brushed finish only; every painted TKPro wears a plastic powder coat. We don't yet know what else is inside the cap, or what the logo, the base cap and the vacuum plug are made of, and we've asked Klean Kanteen. The maker's own page is gone and US sellers are sold out, so for now the live seller is Babipur in the UK.
- Materials
- 18/8 stainless steel, double-wall vacuum, double-wall stainless steel, stainless steel, silicone, bare brushed stainless, no coating; 4 minor parts still unverified
- Packaging
- Not verified yet
- Price seen
- £38.95 on November 1, 2026
- Caveat
- Two silicone gaskets inside the cap, not one. Brushed Stainless only; the painted colors carry a plastic powder coat. Unknown, and asked about: what else is inside the cap, the logo, the base cap, and the vacuum plug and welds. The maker's own page returns an error and US sellers are sold out; Babipur (UK) sells it at GBP 38.95. Packaging not checked.
Photo: Klean Kanteen (kleankanteen.com) 3
Klean Kanteen Reflect 27 oz with Bamboo Cap
Bronze
A steel bottle with a bamboo cap and no paint on it. The one synthetic part is a food-grade silicone seal, and that's the Bronze. Klean Kanteen says it makes the bottle from just three materials, bamboo, steel and silicone, and we haven't found a fourth. What we can't pin down yet is how the bamboo is finished, what holds it to the steel, and how the logo is marked. We've asked.
- Materials
- 18/8 stainless steel, 90% post-consumer recycled, bamboo with a stainless steel core, food-grade silicone, none stated; 3 minor parts still unverified
- Packaging
- Not verified yet
- Price seen
- $32.95 on November 4, 2026
- Caveat
- One silicone seal in the cap. Unknown, and asked about: the finish on the bamboo, the glue or fixing between bamboo and steel, and how the logo is marked. Packaging not checked. Sold in Mirrored and Brushed; both are described as uncoated.
Buy from kleankanteen.com$32.95Every component, with sources
4
Klean Kanteen Rise Reflect 20 oz with Bamboo Cap
Bronze
A double-wall steel bottle with a bamboo cap, and no paint on any of it. The one synthetic part is a food-grade silicone seal in the cap, and that's the Bronze. Klean Kanteen says there's no plastic in it, and we haven't found any. Still open: how the bamboo is finished, what joins it to the steel, how the logo is marked, and what the base cap is made of. A reviewer says the handle on the cap can pull off if it gets bent. We've asked the maker.
- Materials
- 18/8 stainless steel, 90% post-consumer recycled, sustainably harvested bamboo, food-grade silicone, none stated; 7 minor parts still unverified
- Packaging
- Not verified yet
- Price seen
- $44.95 on November 6, 2026
- Caveat
- One silicone seal in the cap. Unknown, and asked about: the finish on the bamboo, the glue or fixing between bamboo and steel, the logo, the base cap, the cap handle and the vacuum plug. Packaging not checked. The maker's page shows it in stock; one US shop lists it sold out and another wouldn't load for us.
Buy from kleankanteen.com$44.95Every component, with sources
Where plastic hides in water bottles
The body is the easy part. Stainless and glass bottles are everywhere; the plastic is in the lid, the gasket that seals it, the straw, the carry loop, the paint or powder coat on the outside, and the sleeve. A "stainless steel" bottle with a polypropylene cap and a silicone seal has plastic touching every sip.
What to check before you buy
- The cap: solid steel, wood or bamboo with a steel thread, or a plastic insert?
- The seal: silicone (R1, counts as plastic), natural rubber, or a cork or steel-on-steel seal?
- Exterior finish: bare, electropolished or vitreous enamel, or a powder coat (R3, plastic)?
- The logo: fired ceramic or enamel, or a powder-coated print (R3, plastic) on an otherwise bare bottle?
- Straws, spouts, loops and sleeves: steel, cork, cotton, or the usual silicone and nylon?
- Packaging: paper box and paper tape, or a plastic bag and a sticker?
Why we think a fully plastic-free one doesn't exist (anymore)
Sealed bottles used to be plastic-free by default. Glass with a cork. A ceramic swing-top with a natural-rubber ring. A steel canteen with a steel cap and a cork or leather washer. Three things changed. Silicone pushed out natural rubber as the seal of choice through the 1990s and 2000s because it doesn't take on flavors, shrugs off the dishwasher and never perishes, so even makers who stripped out every other polymer kept the silicone ring. Then the cap became the product: sport spouts, straws, flip locks and one-handed lids are molded parts, and molded means polypropylene or silicone. And color sells, so bare steel got a powder coat, which is a plastic skin. The result is a market where plastic-free means plastic-free except the parts that touch your mouth. The old constructions still work, a few small makers still build them, and the Bronze above is the closest we have verified. Know of one that goes further? Tell us at chairman@amaterio.com.
Checked and not listed
- Klean Kanteen Classic 27 oz (brushed)
Not listedBrushed 18/8 steel, no lining, no coating on the body. It ships with a polypropylene sport cap, and we rate a bottle the way it is sold. Klean Kanteen sells an all-steel cap separately, with a silicone gasket, but buying a plastic-lidded bottle and a second lid to fix it is not a plastic-free bottle. The logo on brushed bottles is powder coat, according to the company's own Q&A. If they sold the brushed Classic with the steel cap in the box, we'd list it; we've asked which of their bottles ship that way.
- Primus TrailBottle 0.6 L Stainless
Not listedA good steel bottle with a Tritan lid. Tritan is a plastic, the lid is what you drink through, and it ships with the bottle. The retailer we found also lists it as sold out or discontinued.
- Pura Big Mouth Sport 28 oz
Not listedA bare 18/8 steel bottle, no paint, sold as 100% plastic-free. The sport top you drink from is silicone. So are the collar and the sleeve. Pura's care page says silicone contains no plastic. A small gasket we'd allow; a whole lid is a different animal, so this one stays off the list.
Questions people and agents ask
- Is silicone plastic?
- Silicone is a synthetic rubber built on a silicon-oxygen chain instead of a carbon chain. It is not a petroleum plastic, it takes heat well and it does not shed microplastics the way polypropylene does, and it is also not biodegradable or widely recycled. We treat it as better than plastic and not quite plastic: a small silicone seal on an otherwise plastic-free product earns Bronze; a silicone lid, spout, straw or sleeve does not qualify. We're researching silicone properly and the line may move.
- Which water bottle has no plastic in the lid?
- Glass swing-tops with a porcelain or ceramic stopper and a natural-rubber seal, like the soulbottles 0.6 l, have no plastic and no silicone in the closure. Steel bottles with all-steel caps, Klean Kanteen's Stainless Loop Cap for one, still seal with a silicone gasket.
- Are stainless steel bottles better than plastic?
- For the body, yes. 18/8 stainless is inert, tough and recyclable. The plastic in a steel bottle lives in the cap, the gasket, the straw, the sleeve and, on colored bottles and some brushed ones, the powder coat or the logo. Check those five parts before you trust the label.
- Is a glass bottle with a bamboo lid plastic-free?
- Usually not. Most bamboo lids are a bamboo shell over a polypropylene or silicone insert, and the insert is what seals. Ask what the part touching the glass is made of.