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Unlike switching to green cleaning products (which most of us at Living the Science agreed was pretty easy to do), redoing our plastics routine took some time (and continues to be a challenge). It is just so incredibly easy to grab for the plastic storage containers and plastic wrap when dealing with food. Kicking this habit requires learning more about the effects of plastics on health and requires being able to tell the difference between good and bad plastics. 

Before learning how to tell the difference between safer and not so safe plastics, you may want to consider implementing some super-safe strategies for dealing with plastics – strategies that can eliminate much of your exposures. First and foremost, one of the best things you can do with respect to dealing with food and drink is to just stop using plastics for food storage and heating. These activities tend to be associated with the most chemical leaching because of the time the food is in contact with the plastic and because heat can encourage leaching. Try and only use glass for microwave heating and storage. Ceramics also tend to be safe but beware of anything with a thick glaze – especially if they come from Mexico. Thick glazes can contain lead which – you guessed it, can leach into food.

Making using glass for heating and storage an automatic decision is helped by making sure you have lots of glass storage and heating containers around in all sizes. It also means getting rid of all that plastic stuff you have – or at the very least moving them to the garage for storage of non-food items. Buy a couple sets of glass storage containers like the Pyrex multipacks of storage containers. You can find these just about everywhere and Pyrex is just one of the many good brands. Be sure to get glassware that is super sturdy. Glass storage/heating containers often come with plastic lids which makes them handy for storage but remember to remove the top when heating (use a paper towel for a top in the microwave – plastic wrap is just as bad as a plastic container in terms of heating).

One other strategy for reducing your chemical exposures from plastics goes back to an early segment about water that we wrote for this series. Suffice to say, getting in the habit of bringing water with you in aluminum or stainless steel water bottles will go a long way to reducing exposure to chemicals that often leach from those small water bottles into the water – especially if at any time they have sat in a warm car for too long or have been stored in the bottles for a long of a period (hard to say how long is too long – you can certainly taste when it has been too long – the water tastes like, um, PLASTIC).

Having outlined a few strategies for limiting use of plastics in food and drink preparation and use in general we can now move to understanding plastics better which can help you make safer choices when you do use them. In general making safe choices with respect to plastic use requires that you be able to identify safe and not so safe plastics. You do this by looking at the numbers or letters on the bottom or the side of the plastic package or item (generally embossed into the plastic itself). If you have something that is plastic without a number or letter consider completely removing it from food or drink use.

Safer plastics include polyethylene terephthalate (PET, PETE, plastic #1) which is used to make some clear beverage bottles and other food containers like plastic ketchup bottles. High-density polyethylene (HDPE, plastic #2) is also fairly safe and is used to make non-clear milk, juice, and water containers and to make tubs for butter and yogurt. HDPE is also commonly used to make trash bags.

Comparably speaking, low-density polyethylene (LDPE, plastic #4) which is used to make some food containers that are squeezable and some plastic food bags and polypropylene (PP, plastic #5) which is commonly used to make hard plastic containers including some baby bottles are also safe. Creating a mantra of “1”, “2”, “4”, “5” can help you remember the better plastics.

Plastics that pose more danger and as such, should be used with caution especially in food and drink preparation and storage include polyvinyl chloride (PVC, V, plastic #3) -  a petroleum-based plastic that can leach phthalates and other chemicals into your food especially when heated, polystyrene (PS, plastic #6) which is commonly found in styrofoam containers and in clear take out containers, and polycarbonate (plastic #7) which is often found in water bottles and in some baby bottles. Perhaps most noteably, polycarbonate has been shown to release bisphenol A (BPA). BPA has been shown to be associated with numerous problems with reproduction and pregnancy and with increased risks for diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Read part 7:  Clothes and the Chemicals They Come With

Read other parts in the series: Bring Water with You, Making Eating Organic Easy, Personal Care and Cosmetics, Green Cleaning.

 

Glass Storage Containers with Lids

Metal Storage Containers

BPA Free Baby Bottles

Stainless Steel Water Bottles

Aluminum Water Bottles