This weekend, we threw out all four of our SIGG bottles. In monetary terms, this is about $80 worth of merchandise that is now sitting in our recycling bin.

We're not ones who can easily afford to throw away $80, but SIGG bottles deserved to be trashed. Why?

First, as we blogged about last September, SIGG allowed consumers to be misled that their bottles were BPA free. They weren't. So we swapped out the old SIGG bottles for ones that had a new BPA-free liner.

After about four months of normal use - only water going into the bottles - the liner started peeling off. We don't know what is in the liner, but we do know that we don't want any of it in our water. Besides, what's the point of paying a premium price for something that is obviously of lousy quality? SIGG is clearly making an inferior product.

So, the decision was made to switch to stainless steel bottles. But which ones? As many of you know, there are multiple choices of stainless steel bottles, many of which claim to be BPA free.

Since just about all stainless steel bottles are made in China, we didn't want to take chances. After all, what is the point of saving a few dollars now and paying higher medical bills later because the bottle was made with inferior products? Think we're paranoid? Do a news search on "cadmium". Better yet, how do you know the bottles don't contain lead?

As a result, we wanted to limit our risks, which led to us to Klean Kanteen. This company has been around for years and has continuously received high marks from environmental groups. In other words, we have a legitimate reason to believe these bottles are safe. And unlike SIGG, there is no liner to worry about.

Are Klean Kanteen bottles more expensive than what you will find at Wal-Mart or Target? Yes, but how much is your health worth to you? For paying an extra amount equal to the cost of two cups of coffee at Starbucks, you can get a bottle made by a company with a great reputation versus a bottle made by the lowest-cost producer.

To us the choice is clear, which is why we now own several Klean Kanteen bottles. And why our SIGG bottles are in the recycling bin.