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Plastic bags suck - but what about plastic food wrap?
Saturday, 19 September 2009
In July 2008, our family used up our last roll of "Glad wrap" plastic food wrap.
At the time, I made a vow to myself that I would never again use the stuff.
You know what?
This has been one of the easiest "green" promises I've ever kept! It was so easy that I don't even think about the horrible plastic stuff any more.
Why would I want to buy that?
I don't miss plastic wrap at all. These days, we store most of our leftovers in Pyrex dishes that have rubber seal lids.
We're looking at replacing our Tupperware (selling it, as it is too expensive to just toss) for glass jars with rubber seals. And we eat off ceramics anyway.
Plastic bags - an icon, but only one piece of the problem
Plastic bags have become a symbol of all that is wrong with our consumer society. You know - you shove something you bought in it, and then get home - or maybe even just to your car - then dump the bag, and never use it again.
Total useful life span of a plastic bag = 5 minutes.
Total life span of a plastic bag on our planet = Hundreds of years, possibly.
However, plastic food wrap is almost as short lived in its usefulness, and arguably less necessary to our lifestyles. I mean, at least plastic bags are useful for hauling stuff around! And you can make them into this:
But plastic wrap is not only destined to go into landfill - or worse, into our oceans - for the next few hundred years, there are serious doubts about its safety as well.
The FDA says, on the one hand, that cling wrap is safe, and poses no threat to human health, while on the other hand recommending that the wrap does NOT come into contact with food when being heated in the microwave.
Sounds to me like it's safe - sort of, kind of, maybe, NOT!
The FDA makes rulings - but who rules the FDA?
It must be remembered that the FDA, and similar bodies, are under a barrage of continued lobbying by powerful companies that want to market their products with as few restrictions as possible.
While I am not an advocate of conspiracy theories, our marketplace has a history of products not being recalled until long after the damage is done, and case after case of injury has been proven. My belief is where any doubt exists on the safety of a product, it is best to avoid that product.
Five great reasons to NOT buy plastic food wrap
Overall, "disposable" plastic wrap and similar products:
- Benefit no-one but the companies that sell them,
- Are a costly way to keep food safe,
- May not be particularly effective at keeping food sealed if not used correctly (and how many people actually READ the instructions on a pack of cling wrap?)
- May be hazardous to human health,
- Present a serious pollution and disposal problem for our planet.
Our world has a big problem with plastics.
While I don't think we are anything close to eliminating the use of non-essential plastics in the immediate future, I think we, as citzens, need to stop buying products that hurt our planet, are a waste of resources, and may be harmful to us.
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This blog post was inspired by Eco Yogini's thoughtful post, A plastic documentary must-see!.
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Cluttercut - Be the change
14 comments:
Inspiring! :-)
I can't remember the last time I bought or used plastic food wrap/ film! I also gave up baking paper/ greaseproof paper, but have gone back to using that for some baking. We still have foil too, but rarely use it. And we still have some ziplock bags too, which I wash/ dry and reuse when suitable. I was going to make some PUL 'shower cap' style covers for our bowls/ plates that don't have lids, but not sure how safe or effective that would be. Mostly, if for some reason leftovers are not going into a lidded container, and will be eaten in a short time, I use an upturned plate as a cover.
totally! We don't use plastic ANYTHING when it comes to food. that doc totally motivated us to cut it out.
Very informative! :) Thank you!
One thing I am doing OK ! I use my old Tupperware. When one "dies" (when the scratching becomes so heavy I am wondering what lives in it... berk!) I replace it by a glass container. We are slowly becoming a plastic free house and that feels great !
Hi Daharja,
Great post. I stopped buying cling wrap awhile ago but recently bought a new roll. A non foodie reason. Alfoil has also been eliminated but sometimes I find it a bit inconvenient. I'm slowly buying a collection of glass containers, it would be nice if I could find a pizza size one.
I have ziploc bags, mainly for bread and meat freezing. They get washed and reused. I'm looking at getting rid of them as well.
It's strange, I ditched plastic bags as soon as the 'green' bags came out but it took me years to even think about all the other plastics.
On another note, I tried to borrow that book you suggested from the library. They don't have it. I'll have to remember to ask if they can get it in for me. Thanks for all the suggestions.
Hi Kajsa - Thanks :-) I should really do some calculations on how much money we save each year by NOT using the horrible stuff as well!
Hi Dixiebelle - I think a good rule of thumb is: if you don't need it and it really doesn't make life that much easier, don't use it. Cost is also a factor. And there's another guideline - if it won't break down in your compost, it probably isn't good to use either.
Saying that, no-one is a "perfect greenie" and we all use some products that are bad for the planet - that's just the way modern life is. But we can make small changes for the better, and as far as stuff like cling wrap, we really haven't missed it. It turns out it wasn't that necessary after all!
Talking to the guys on the Alguita who study oceanic plastic debris at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, their statement was that absolutely the biggest contributor to the world's ocean plastic problem was "disposable" plastics. So even moving to Tupperware and similar would make a huge improvement.
Just make sure you buy the safe stuff! But if you use a product hundreds of times, that HAS to be better for the planet!
Hi Touchatou - Tupperware have a "lifetime guarantee" on their products, so if you have any that are really scratched and/or damaged, find a Tupperware salasperson or contact the company and they *should* replace the products, free of charge.
Same goes for any unsafe Tupperware you have. Any that you have that is made of BPA plastic, if you contact the company they should replace it with non-BPA plastic.
Certainly heavy scratching would warrant a replacement, because of the possibility that food could get contaminated.
Then, if you still don't feel happy living with Tupperware, sell the new stuff secondhand - or give it away to someone who loves the stuff! Hehe.
Apparently Tupperware do recycle their products.
The other possibility is to re-use your old Tupperware as plant pots or for garden uses, where there is no possibility of it coming into contact with food.
Hi Nevyn - We're still using plastic bags for our bin linings. I need to rethink this, and come up with a better alternative - any ideas?
I think my mother used to line the bin with newspaper back in the 1970s, but we don't get the paper, and I don't want to start, just so I have something to line the bin with!
*sigh*
I think I'll write a post on the subject, and see what answers and ideas I get!
But you're right, you make changes in one obvious area, but sometimes it takes a long time before you think through the process and work out other, related areas that need fixing!
Going "green" can be tricky sometimes! But at least it is an interesting and challenging path to tread!
You could always try lining your kitchen/ household bins with... nothing! Just give them a quick rinse (you don't need much water/ detergent) or wipe out after emptying. If doing this with the 'rubbish' part seems too gross to you, then at least do it with the recycling bin! Do you get junk mail? It works well too.
Hi Dixiebelle - You know, that's actually a sensible idea!
Our family is doing the 1010uk.org challenge, (even though we're not in the UK!), and rubbish is one of the things we'll be looking at in the challenge. I'll be posting about this, and other issues on the Challenge, fairly soon.
Overall, the goal for us is to get our garbage down to nothing - or as close to nothing as possible! That's going to be a real challenge with preschoolers!
Augh!
I had a quick look at 1010UK. It looks like it has similar ideas to 1 Million Women which is an Australian site.
When I put out my wheelie bin each week it usually has 1 plastic shopping bag of rubbish. It holds plastic wrapping that can't be recycled and the occasional food scraps. I was burying any food scraps that couldn't be eaten by the animals but I've slipped a bit there.
You could scrounge newspapers from friends or family, that's what we do. The only thing I really struggle with other than been too lazy to dig another hole for food scraps is the unrecyclable plastic wrapping, from the butchers etc. One thing I'm thinking of doing is taking my own containers with me and asking for my food to be weighed into them rather than platic bags.
There is a woman in England who has pretty much eliminated all her rubbish but I forgot to save the blog address and I can't for the life of me remember the name. I'll try and track it down for you.
Hi Nevyn - Rubbish is certainly a key area we're tackling over the coming months, as part of our 1010 challenge.
Is the blog you're thinking of The Rubbish Diet?
That's the one! Thank you. And this time I've Favourited it. I know, I'm making up words again.
Hi Nevyn - I thought it might be. I used to Follow it, and have just Followed it again.
"Favourited"? I'm not sure. Might be a word. Who cares, anyway? English is meant to be flexible! :-)
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