A Plastic, Plastic World
Occasionally, I post on SoulCysters–a message board for women with PCOS. Recently a lengthy discussion occurred about this article on BPA and baby bottles.
It got me thinking, not only about plastic baby bottles but about our plastic culture. Practically everything that we come in contact with each day is loaded with plastic: carpeting, appliances, paint, toys, cosmetic and food containers and on and on.
Plastic is problematic for a multitude of reasons. It is largely formed of petrochemicals; it off-gases; it promotes a culture of waste, and it’s unhealthy in general.
Many studies are now revealing that chemicals in plastics like pthalates, bisphenol-a, xenoestrogens and other nasties have carcinogenic, reproductive- and endocrine-disrupting effects. Some studies have linked bisphenol-a to endometrial and other cancers. Others have found higher concentrations of bisphenol-a in women with PCOS and women suffering from ovarian dysfunctions. Even more have found a link between these chemicals and breast cancer. These risks are real, and many European nations have already taken the lead in banning or controlling the levels of chemicals found in plastics–particularly in children’s toys.
It’s impossible to remove all the plastics from our homes, offices and lives in general; however, we can take small steps to limit the amount of plastic we bring into our homes.
- If you can find a comparable product in glass, don’t buy it in plastic. McCormick’s Vanilla Extract comes in plastic bottles, but Frontier Vanilla Extract comes in glass.
- Ditch the saran wrap and use butcher paper and string instead; better yet, use cloth.
- Skip the Fisher-Price plastic toys and buy nice HABA-style wooden toys or stuffed animals from natural fibers; better yet, make them yourself (it’s easy!).
- When it comes time to replace your carpets, choose wool.
- Instead of storing your food in tupperware, try mason jars.
- Instead of microwaving frozen veggies in their accompanying plastic bag; pour them into a glass bowl and microwave that; better yet, skip the frozen veggies altogether and steam veggies fresh from your kitchen garden (you do have a kitchen garden, don’t you?).
- Instead of using plastic bottles for your expressed breast milk, use glass bottles; better yet, breastfeed straight from the tap.
- Instead of storing items in Zip-loc baggies, sew up a few drawstring bags (they’re cuter).
- Instead of buying plastic-covered boxes of food, buy food in bulk with minimal packaging; better yet, grow as much as you can at home.
- Instead of sighing in despair thinking there’s nothing you can do, make small changes; better yet, connect with others so you can discover bigger, better changes.
So … this may be old news for most of you, but please share other ways we can minimize bringing plastics into our homes.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:01 am
One of my projects has been to get rid of all the plastic food containers for storage. So far, I just have a pasta plastic container left. I just can’t find anything long and skinny. Yard sales are on the way so I’ll keep my eyes open there.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:09 am
We too have started limiting the plastic in our household. I am still trying to convince my husband it is not okay to microwave plastic - augh! I have started saving my glass containers (olive and pasta sauce jars) and re-using them for other food stuffs, as well as buying in bulk where I can and storing in the glass jars. It can be overwhelming when you realize that plastic truly is everywhere, but doing a little bit at a time is making the process a bit easier for me.
March 6th, 2007 at 4:19 am
We are working on NO plastic, too. It’s a big issue for me, but I lose momentum sometimes because it can feel so overwhelming to avoid plastic, plastic everywhere! It takes work.
I second the mason jars idea. We have loads of them. They are great for storing bulk food items as well. When purchasing bulk foods, you can ask the deli to give you a tare weight on your jar. When you check out, let the cashier know the tare weight and they will only charge you for the weight of your bulk food. Then you can skip transferring food from the bag (hopefully cloth) to the storage container.
Get rid of sippy cups! Sit with your kiddo and help them drink from a real cup, that isn’t plastic of course! Or better yet, breast feed your toddler. Kleen Kanteen makes some great stainless sippy cups, too. And for the nonplastic unbreakable cup, we have been collecting stainless martini shakers from the thrift store. They can’t break and they are lighter than glass and ceramics, which is good for kiddos.
I think something else to add is if you have some plastic items, don’t throw them out. Find another use, or give it to someone who will use it.
March 6th, 2007 at 5:43 am
Plastic scares the bejusus out of me. We use very little in our house. We use a lot of #2 Yogurt containers for food storage, but even there we are trying to switch over to only glass. I usually take my own jars to fill-up the bulk items. It bugs me when I see people buying bulk and they use all new plastic bags.
As far as KIA, we have glass bottles, but she’s only used them twice because normally she just sucks on the breast. We even bought a tiny wooden rattle for her. I just wish the wooden toys were a bit cheeper. It seems that they are all from Germany.
March 6th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I’m working on going plastic free too since reading about plastic and women’s health (I think it was on a PCOS site too!). Soon my family will be just my daugher and I which will make this all go quicker. I like to reuse glass jars but have found in the last few years many companies have done away with glass. Of course if I stay away from name brand and store brand and go with the health section stuff that’s in glass so another benefit there too.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:54 pm
A great reminder. I find that even though I got rid of all plastics in the kitchen, they slowly creep their way back in. And pretty soon, I am overtaken with it again. Right now, my hubby has to bring a lunch everyday to his work site…and I just haven’t been very creative. I have cloth sandwich wraps (but even the inside of that is vinyl!). I need to figure out where my metal storage thingy went. Thanks for the boost.
March 7th, 2007 at 5:04 am
We’ve gotten rid of most of our plastic containers over the years - and we never cook in plastic, but we still use (and reuse) resealable plastic baggies for some things. Is there a good, collapsable, air-tight replacement for these?
March 8th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
Hello! Love this post & wondered where you got the “bag counter?” I am the author of a book series about girl eco-heroes: http://www.gaiagirls.com The second book, Gaia Girls Way of Water talks about plastics in the ocean.
March 8th, 2007 at 5:10 pm
I agree with most of your points, except the wool. Wool has its own share of problems, most of it is not grown in a sustainable or animal friendly manner. I think FSC wood or ceramic tile is better. If you want carpet hemp is usually grown without pesticides.
Also, a minor point, but I do feel that worrying about fisher price toys while at the same time buying a new car may be understandable from an emotional viewpoint (no plastic in my house, literally), but it does not really do any good for the environment.
March 8th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Oh, I think my last comment may not have been clear. I understand you are concerned about the health aspects of plastics in your house, and concerned that your children will be harmed from fisher price toys. However, I think the impact of a car on the environment AND THEREFORE OUR HEALTH is much bigger than the impact of small toys for older children. All those chemicals and all that gas does go in the air we breath and does end up in our breast milk.
March 8th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
passer by
Thanks for the clarification, I was a bit confused by the second paragraph.
I agree that cars do make a bigger impact than plastic toys, but they’re not really in the same league; it’s not an equal exchange. I prefer to work on “better than” steps. (I.E. A toy made of repurposed cloth is better than a new plastic one.)
We’re not actually looking into purchasing a new vehicle; rather, we’re looking into replacing our current car with a “better than” option. Sure, not having a car at all is better than having one, but we also must balance what is realistic and doable with what is available to us.
It is sad, though, that environmental pollutants are contaminating our milk and our wombs.
March 8th, 2007 at 5:40 pm
quinn
During the work week, we fed our baby from glass bottles too. They worked remarkably well, and I would use ‘em again if I needed too.
March 10th, 2007 at 4:13 pm
I am amazed at how many people are completely unaware of the fact that plastic comes from petrochemicals - many see no connection between plastic consumption and global warming. You gave some great suggstions to reduce out impact.
Do you think part of our disposable culture comes from germo-phobia? My mother is convinced that it is so much “cleaner” to use disposable plastics in hotels and other places and complains at how unsanitary it must be if they don’t….
March 10th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Ahh! It’s so scary! Any suggestions for sippy cups? I can’t seem to find any sort of replacement?
March 10th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Never mind! I just read the first couple of posts and kleen kanteen looks to be what I’m searchig for. The site: http://www.reusablebags.com/store/stainless-steel-klean-kanteen-c-19_25_35.html?gclid=CIzwt9b_6ooCFQtlSgodI2Jfmg seems to be having a sale in case anyone’s interested!
March 17th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Great post. Another thing to avoid is canned foods because cans contain BPA, the same chemical in type #7 plastics. I just made a post on my blog about it if you’d like to check it out.
April 16th, 2007 at 2:40 pm
You mentioned using cloth instead of Saran Wrap ~ a fellow wahm (I make lollipops) sells cloth “foilers” through her site, and they’ve become quite popular with the AOL cloth diapering community
http://www.abbycadabras.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=FortheHome&Sub=64&isThumbs=No&Thumbs
December 5th, 2007 at 9:58 am
[...] have hormone-disrupting and carcinogenic effects in the body. Indeed, I’ve blogged about the connection between BPA and baby bottles before. What many parents do not realize is that bisphenol-A is also found in infant formula [...]