A couple of months ago there was a good article about environmental toxins and toxins in our homes.
I've really tried to use less plastic in my life, while also being careful to not let myself get too neurotic about it or hard on myself when I'm out of glass storage containers and have to reach for those few tupperware pieces I still have left.
It's a lifestyle change to stop using so much plastic, and one that isn't going to happen overnight. At least not for me.
When it comes to my kids, though, I'm really trying to pick up the pace by replacing old, plastic sippy cups with Kleen Kanteens, not buying as many plastic toys (why, Disney, can't you make better quality toys since my kids are total suckers for them?!), and I don't reheat things with plastic wrap or in plastic containers anymore.
Because of M's fine motor issues, we have found that we need special, lipped plates to help make his mealtime a bit easier for him, and a bit less messy for us. Previously, I'd only been able to find these sorts of plates in questionable plastic form from the special needs catalogs. The scratch marks on the bottoms of those plates made me a bit concerned...what is leaching into my children's food as they eat?
'Parents' listed a wonderful site that I finally got around to visiting yesterday, and I'm a new fan! Life Without Plastic had these fabulous, deep plates...
And these adorable cereal bowls for kids...
I also got a couple of steel mugs for the kids, and a great, airtight container for M's lunchbox. I'm looking forward to getting them and tossing my old stuff in the recycling bin!
They've also got a great blog that I'm looking forward to delving into a bit deeper. I think that whether you believe toxins are responsible for autism and other diseases or not, we can all agree that our landfills and the animals we share our planet with would be a heck of a lot happier without as many plastics.
5 comments:
There's never any harm in avoiding a man-made chemical product!
There's the scary ones coating the inside of food tines, too, BPA.
<a href="http://www.news.com.au/business/strip-danger-drug-from-food-tins-says-choice/story-e6frfm1i-1225913100587:>They're now demanding that it be stripped from food tins</a>.
i've been thinking about this a lot lately. we haven't put any effort toward reducing plastic, and that is definitely something we can afford to do...as in, i can't afford to rip up the remaining carpet in our house BUT i can afford some glass containers to replace my rubbermaid. what about the ones that say BPA free...are they OK?
@Ro, I hear you about the food tins. The blog I referenced in my post also lists companies whose canned foods do not contain BPA.
@Rebekah, I agree that this is something less expensive that equals a positive change. Phthalates and PVC are also toxic. I think especially once these things show scratch marks or are washed in a dishwasher (which I'm also trying not to do) the chemicals within them leach out even more. Check out this site too:
http://www.badplastics.com/
So nice that you found me! Yes, I remember you. Excited to see your fun blog. Love your writing!
I am a potter and have been making lipped plates for our family that help our son eat. Thanks for a link to these plates - they will be much lighter for on-the-go eating! We have been using minimal plastic in our house for years (the bathroom is another place to cut back, a lot) and are always looking for good alternatives. Thank you!
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