Welcome back! Alright, last week we reviewed all the crazy side effects we seem to be in contact with on a daily basis with plastics. It is crazy the many fetuses, children, adults, animals, insects, plants, and elements infected with these side effects.
Safer plastic alternatives:
Glass: This is one of the best alternatives for plastic when it comes to food and beverage storage. Glass is also a great alternative to cosmetics. Merus, my natural deodorant ONLY comes in glass jars and bottles. Glass is made from sand and can be reused endlessly without the product leaching into foods, drinks, or cosmetics. This material can easily be microwaved, often used in the oven, and keep products shelf stable without effecting their quality. Glass can also be recycled. Merus gives an extra 20% just for reusing glass jars and bottles.
Substitution ideas:
Bottles of water, milk, and juices. Note, Kombucha needs to ALWAYS be in glass. Plastic will degrade and metal will alter the product.
Food storage containers.
Bottles
Cookware.
Stainless steel: This is a great option for at home or on the go. Stainless steel is strong, durable, and able to withstand its integrity.
Substitution ideas:
Lunchboxes
Silverware
Beverage and food containers.
Straws
Cooking/baking
Rubber: This material has a rough history. Not the best one to fully ethically support (based on historical standards), rubber is a bit better for the planet since it is a raw material from tree sap. This material has been used in a variety of ways, similar to plastic before it was born.
Substitution ideas:
Footwear
Pacifiers
Toys
Straws
Silicon: Not the best alternative as this material does not typically biodegrade and may not be safe at higher temperatures.
Wood: Wood pulp can be considered a good alternative to plastic. Especially when moisture is not involved.
Substitution ides:
Silverware
Bowls
Cups
Toys
Paper: Another product is a different form of wood, paper. Easily biodegradable and does not take a lot to decompose.
Substitution ideas:
Cosmetic containers like deodorants, soaps, shampoos, conditioners, or chap sticks.
Cardboard boxes
Packing material
Straws (I know, everyone's favorite).
Beeswax: This material has a long history of being used, mainly for its water repellent properties (there is a reason bees use what they make!). Beeswax is a naturally occurring material from our "buzzing" friends.
Beeswax wraps instead of plastic wrap.
As a container for fruits and vegetables.
Instead of plastic bags
Natural water repellent for clothes.
Seaweed: This is a cool alternative I have been following for a couple years since stumbling across the brand, Notpla. Seaweed is an easily cultivated, decomposable, and sustainable product that can help disrupt the plastic industry.
Substitution ideas:
Seaweed packaging instead of plastic.
Safer packaging for foods and beverages.
Can you guess how much plastic we consume each week on average?
Food: Whatever food touches should avoid plastic, especially with heat. Try to reduce packaged foods, fruits, vegetables, and containers.
Drinks: Plastic water bottles are bad in more ways than just endocrine interrupting. When it comes to beverages touching plastic keep them away to avoid any leached chemicals, especially in heat.
Kids: Take an internal audit to the kid’s pacifiers, bottles, toys, eating utensils, and even clothes. Begin to swap out with rubber, glass (I know this is surprising but there are resources), beeswax, wood, and paper.
Objects: Plastic bags can be entirely omitted. Use reusable bags or make bags from old T-shirts. Switch out plastic toothbrushes to bamboo and packaging wrap from "peanuts" to paper.
Clothes: Check out one of the latest reads, "But What Will I Wear" on how our clothes contain plastics and ways to avoid them.
Usually, I do a breakdown of the different segments that are affected in the environment by a particular product, however, plastic is dirty from the start to how it never really ends. The base of plastic is again petroleum and we do not need to go into the details on how oil fracking causes harm to our planet, air, water, and supports war in different countries. From there, chemicals are broken down/refined and workers endure the consequences of working with these highly toxic chemicals to make plastic. The communities near these refining factories also are affected as their water and air is tainted with toxic waste. From there, the material is sent to a variety of organizations for a large multiplicity of uses and eventually to the consumer. In between, there are a lot of logistical carbon emissions. After a plastic is used, especially single use plastic, it ends up in landfills, in water ways like the deepest parts of our oceans, sometimes burned which releasing toxic fumes and usually in other countries, and continues to break down into microplastics. I wish the cycle would end there but those microplastics are consumed by humans, animals, and even insects and wreak havoc on our systems. Eventually the microplastics either stay in the body or are excreted where microplastics still continue to exist to repeat their cycle.
The effects on ourselves are one thing because at the end of the day we are here for only a short amount of time. The fact that these plastics are altering our DNA and infecting every aspect of our environment is another. The mission to fully extract plastic may be one of the hardest challenges we have had to face as humans.
The United States may not be the top consumer of plastic in the world, but we are still in the top 5. We have a long way to go to be at the bottom on the list.
So how much plastic are we ingesting per week? Well, it could be as much as a credit card per week. All these tiny pieces of plastic circulating through our bodies, our children's bodies, our pet's bodies, and all the bodies.
Sometimes we like to believe we are the most advanced civilization that has ever lived but I would like to beg the question on how this can be when we knowingly pollute ourselves, friends, families, animals, waterways, and land with toxic substances. Together, we can make a difference. Starting with ourselves, involving our families, extending to our communities, spreading across our country, and finally across the seas.
We can do this together! :)
Thank you for reading!
"Destiny is Mine"
*Reminder* I am not a doctor. This is not medical advice. Please refer to your medical practitioner for details pertaining to your specific health.
Thanks for reading Healthy Secrets! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.