If the PRIMARY recipient of your water bottle will be under the age of thirteen, this FAQ is for you!
The Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) ensures the safety of all consumer products and places special emphasis on children’s products.Every water bottle on Bulletin Bottle is BPA free, and has passed testing for applicable FDA standards. CPSIA has taken this testing one step further by identifying four age grades, and requiring certain testing on products for each group. If you plan to distribute your water bottles primarily to children under 13, we WILL NOT SELL you bottles that have not undergone CPSIA mandated testing for use by children in your recipient’s age range. Ultimately, you are distributing your bottles, so you must disclose if the bottles will be used primarily children. We note this clearly on our quotes and order confirmations.
0-3 years of age: Water bottles must not contain small parts, must not detach small parts, and must not contain any sharp edges. Further, most children who would fall into this age group are using bottles and/or Sippy cups. This is why there are VERY few water bottles approved for use in this age group—think about the popularity of push-pull spouts and twist off caps. The added expense of testing for this category, combined with the lack of interest, is somewhat cost-prohibitive. We do sell Sippy cups, though they are not on our website (contact us for more information). Permanent tracking information (a series of discrete numbers) is required on all bottles purchased for use by this age grade (see photo at left). In the unlikely event of a recall, this number will link your bottle to its originating factory.
3-8 years of age: Water bottles for this age group might include small parts or detach small parts as a result of use and abuse testing, but are required to have small parts warning statements (if applicable) included. Use and abuse testing is very costly, and many factories opt out of these tests. This is why the majority of our child-safe water bottles are tested and approved for use by children ages 8 and older. Permanent tracking information (a series of discrete numbers) is required on all bottles purchased for use by this age grade.
8-12 years of age: Water bottles for this age group are exempt from small parts, sharp points, and sharp edge requirements. However, they still must be tested for other CPSIA requirements for children’s products (such as lower lead thresholds) that adult-intended water bottles do not have to undergo. Permanent tracking information (a series of discrete numbers) is required on all bottles purchased for use by this age grade.
13+ years of age: Every water bottle on our site is approved for use by persons 13 years of age or older. The CPSIA age grading requirements are not applicable for items distributed to persons 13 years of age and older. No permanent tracking information is required.
Bulletin Bottle is committed to informing you about any safety regulations applicable to your purchase so you can choose the best custom bottle for your primary recipients. We are not indicating that our over-12 water bottles are not safe for children under 13. They simply haven’t gone through the rigorous (and expensive) CPSIA testing standards for children under the age of 13.
CPSIA is very complicated to navigate, but when you work with Bulletin Bottle [.com] you can rest assured that we ensure compliance with all applicable safety regulations. There are many manufacturers of water bottles that are not well versed in CPSIA compliance for one reason or another, and might inadvertently sell you a bottle that is NOT approved for your age group. Further, there is a major difference between “eco-friendly” or “eco-safe” bottles and bottles with demonstrable CPSIA compliance. If you’re not sure if the bottle you’re looking at is appropriate for your age group, ASK!
For your convenience, here are links to our child-safe, CPSIA compliant water bottles:
Bulletin Bottle water bottles for children ages 3-8