Why stop using plastic all together
Plastic is one of our worlds biggest polluter. Even tho we are told to collect and recycle plastic, recycling plastics is really hard because of low density and low value.
Another problem also is that...
There is also huge range of different types of plastic used in disposable products and product packaging.
* Black food trays are a particularly troublesome because plastics colored with carbon (a type of industrial pigment additive used for its durability and deep shade.) is not easily identified by the infrared sensors used in most plastic sorting facilities to separate out different types of plastic materials. This means that black plastic usually gets sorted as regular waste and ends up in a landfill instead of being recycled as intended.
* Many products are made up of not just one material. These product types are called mixed material products. An example of a certain product is a plastic bag with a foil lining or a disposable coffee cup made of paper with a plastic lining. Because believe it or not single use Coffe cups actually are lined with plastics, the same goes for many other products that might look like a cardboard packaging but product is lined with plastic so that it can hold food. These types of products are in most cases considered contaminated and worthless.
* Some other plastic products just contains a type of plastic that is just not recyclable. A few items like that are
* Plastic bags
* Straws
* Keyboards- maybe, if you get it to the right person.
"If a product is considered recyclable " is determined by two really important things: the market and city government. If there's a demand in the market, then recyclers and companies will pay for a certain item to be recycled.
If there isn't a market for that type of material to be recycled it probably won't end up getting recycled.
It doesn't matter how many times you put it in the recycling bin. Instead the material will end up being burnt which gives out tones of harmfull chemicals or it will end up in a garbage pile in a large landfill and it will break down over tens and thousands of years and end up in a million small pieces that ends up in our water ways and in our animals.
As of 2015, approximately 6.3 billion tons of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment.
And in 2016 only 14% of plastic waste was recycled globally.[49]According to the EPA, the recycling rate for plastics overall was 9.1%
Another problem is what all of our plastic containers and plastic bottles and black plastic utensils contain
Plastic food containers like these down below
And plastic wrap/cling wrap like this
Have the potential to leak bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates into the food, especially if the food has a higher fat content. If you heat up the food and let it sit in one of these products these chemicals will also leach more.
Both bisphenol-A (BPA) and phthalates are known to be endocrine disruptors, which means they have the ability to affect estrogen and testosterone levels in humans. Additional research also shows that they may have the potential to impact the development of the brain and reproductive organs in developing fetuses.
I MEAN WHAT, Items might affect estrogen and testosterone levels and potentially impact the development of the brain are sold in every store and we are being told to put our food in these dangerous products.
According to researchers it is In general, advised NOT to heat your food in ceramic or Pyrex to avoid the leaching.
Another problem with plastics just in the kitchen is all your black plastic cooking utensils that you use at least 3 times a day to cook your foods with.
A recent study published in Environment International had found out that black plastics may contain harmful chemicals.
HOW you may ask.
Because of it's color black.
Plastics coloured with carbon (a type of industrial pigment additive used for its durability and deep shade.) Is not easily identified by the infrared sensors used in most plastic sorting facilities to separate out different types of plastic materials. This means that black plastic usually gets sorted as regular waste and ends up in a landfill instead of being recycled as intended.
Because all black plastic doesn't get recycle and millions of people around the world continue to buy products made from plastics. New black plastic needs to be produced every day.
So a lot of our black plastic utensils and handels on pots and pans are made from the plastic parts that's being recycled from electronic and electrical equipment waste. Also called e-waste. The problem is that this electronics waste is that it typically contain toxic substances like the flame retardant bromine; antimony; and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and mercury. Using the plastic that comes from e-waste is dangerous because it carries all of these highly dangerous toxic substances like the flame retardant bromine; antimony; and heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and mercury in to our black plastic products like cooking utensils and handels on pots and pans.
Products that we later use while cooking our foods.
Researchers have tested the levels of various chemicals in more than 600 black plastic products. Shockingly, both bromine and lead were found extensively in non-electrical black plastic products like cooking utensils. In many products the concentrations of bromine and lead exceeded legal limits.
Bromine is a highly dangerous chemical linked to cancer, diabetes, developmental disorders, reproductive issues, and thyroid problems
Lead is a well documented chemicals with a ton of health risks such as hindering physical and mental development.
These are not chemicals that i want to get in to my body.
In the category Kitchen here on my website you can read about the changes you can make to stop using plastics in the kitchen
In the other categories you can also read how you can let go of all of your plastics in your home once and for all.