“Just Say No!” to Plastics
Let’s face it: We’re addicted to plastic. The ease of packaging and other uses keeps us blind to the devastating effects plastic pollution is having on the environment – including our bodies. We’re part of nature too. From baby bottles to plastic wrap to food containers to contaminated fish, people of all ages are consuming a credit card’s worth of plastic every week. Great alternatives already exist, and we should use them while we design ever more plastic-free products to replace the ubiquitous plastics all around us.
Gizmodo reported this month that babies are drinking at anywhere from 1.3 million to 16.2 million plastic particles in a liter of formula after a baby bottle is heated. Read the full study in the journal Nature.
This can’t be good for our health. We already know we’re ingesting plastics through seafood, tap water, beer and sea salt, to name a few sources. We also know that plastics in our bodies disrupt our normal hormone states, possibly contributing to health problems including obesity, heart disease, cancer and cognitive issues.
It’s critical that we do what we can ASAP to stop ingesting plastic and several products can help. Remember good old-fashioned glass baby bottles? They’re still available in grocery stores, drug stores, big-box stores and online. For distinctly modern looks, you can use Lifefactory or Kid Kanteen baby bottles that matches your adult water bottles. Teach your kids while they’re young that we can resist plastic use!
Your kitchen is another great place to make a difference. (Even) the Wall Street Journal ran a piece this month explaining how we can keep plastic wrap – something that just can’t be recycled – away from our food and out of our landfills. It’s a (bad) wrap! The article suggests using food storage like these reusable bowl covers from dot&army and reusable food covers like these from Food Huggers. Who knew we could buy avocado huggers for those leftover halves?
An abundance of safer, fun, stylish options are here, waiting for you “Just say no!” to plastics.