In August 2009, SIGG's CEO Steve Wasik wrote a letter announcing that all SIGG bottles produced prior to August 2008 were lined with a water-based epoxy liner that was found to contain trace amounts of BPA. He stressed that the bottles were tested and did not leach BPA, but regardless of this, many SIGG customers are upset. BPA was one of the main reasons many people switched to reusable water bottles.
Mr. Wasik has since apologized for his lack of transparency from the begin about the issue. The company says it never claimed to have BPA-free bottles, rather, they always stressed that their bottles did not leach anything. But in hindsight, Mr. Wasik wishes he'd been straightforward from the beginning about BPA in the liners.
In August 2008, SIGG began to line its bottles with a new "EcoCare" liner that is certified to be 100% free of BPA, phthalates, BADGE, BFDGE, and NOGE.
SIGG has established an exchange program for any customer that is concerned about the old liner and wants a new bottle with the new EcoCare liner.
As soon as I heard about the exchange program I contacted SIGG. They e-mailed me a return label and an RMA code to expedite my request. I had to pay for shipping to send my old bottles to SIGG (it was inexpensive... the bottles are very lightweight). Once they received my package, they sent me another e-mail with a gift code to be used on mysigg.com to choose replacement bottles. They also covered shipping for the new bottles. It was very easy to place my order and we received our new EcoCare bottles today.
I'm sad that SIGG didn't have BPA-free liners from the beginning, but I'm happy they made this exchange so easy.
If you plan to take advantage of this exchange program, act quickly. It ends on October 31, 2009. And if you want to avoid paying shipping to send your old bottles back, many SIGG retailers are participating in the exchange program. See the exchange program page for details.
