This is Day 46 of the Green in 365 series!
Plastic is a staple in modern American kitchens today. Food containers, storage baggies, leftover containers, plastic wrap, dishes, cups, and more, plastics are everywhere.
There are several main problems with plastics in our home and our world. First of all, they are made from petroleum, a toxic, and non-renewable resource. Secondly, they are filled with chemicals that leach into our foods and therefore into our bodies. And last, but certainly not least, they are absolutely polluting our world. So of course, cutting back on our plastic use as much as possible is an important step toward greener and more sustainable living.
It doesn’t really help to just throw out all of the plastic in our kitchen and start from scratch. But, we do need to be wise about our use of plastic in the kitchen, and work toward buying as little new plastic as possible.
Here are some simple ways to get the plastics out of your kitchen:
• Don’t heat or reheat food in plastic in the microwave. Heating the plastic can release the toxins from the plastic into your food.
• Instead of storing your leftovers, use plastic containers that you already have for things like organizing your bulk spices or your salad toppings in your pantry, or organizing food in your fridge or freezer.
• Plastics labeled with 2, 4, or 5 are considered safer, those labeled 1, 3, 6, and 7 are more dangerous and should be avoided.
• Invest in glass storage bowls for storing leftovers and other food.
• Invest in stainless steel water bottles and sippy cups, instead of buying disposable water bottles, plastic reusable bottles, or plastic sippy cups.
• Invest in reusable glass or stainless steel straws, instead of using plastic ones.
• Get reusable produce bags, and leave the plastic produce bags at the grocery store.
This is really a huge topic and one we’ll probably cover again at some point, but I just wanted to get you started with thinking about how you can cut back on using plastic in your kitchen, and start finding other alternatives to things that are usually plastic. This is something that our family is still working on too!
For more resources and further reading:
My Plastic Free Life – This great blog follows Beth Terry as she strives to live without plastic. Check out the Plastic Free Guide for alternatives to plastic in every area of life.
Kitchen Stewardship’s Spring Cleaning Carnival: Get the Plastics Out
Healthy Child, Healthy World: Step #5 – Be Wise with Plastics
7 Ways to Avoid Using Plastic Wrap at Green Your Way.
How have you cut back on using plastic in your kitchen?
Photo by Les Haines/Flickr
Find all the Green in 365 posts.
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Thanks for the information, but I’m a little confused about something. You say that “plastics labeled with 1, 4, or 5 are considered safer, those labeled 1, 3, 6, and 7 are more dangerous and should be avoided.” The number 1 is listed under both the safer and the more dangerous plastics. Are there two different types of number 1 plastics or is one of those supposed to be number 2? I know a lot of the containers things come in have number 2 on them. Is number 2 safe or dangerous? Thanks! : )
Hi Kelly,
I’m so sorry about the confusion! 1 should be avoided and 2 is considered safer. I think I was getting mixed up when I was making the list! Thanks for your question! Hope that clears things up.
~Emily
Thanks for all the info! We are slowly purging the plastic in our kitchen. I need to get some reusable produce bags. Do you buy yours online?
Another point is to think about plastics in the rest of the house, too. My husband is great about recycling in the kitchen, but then throws away bottles for shampoo and contact lens solution just because they’re not in the kitchen and he doesn’t think about it. I’m trying not to buy plastic toys for my kids, and to reuse bottles and containers for bathroom supplies, too, like using glass refillable hand soap dispensers (or consider buying soap in bars instead of plastic bottles).
Nice article! About #7 plastic: The “Be Wise with Plastics” article you linked explains that #7 is the “other” category, which includes both dangerous polycarbonate and new plant-based plastics, among others. Even if you know that a #7 is a safe plastic, most recycling programs won’t take anything tagged #7, so it’s best to avoid them for temporary uses. The plant plastics supposedly are compostable, but when I tried to compost some (in my open-topped compost bin, where they were exposed to sun and rain that could help to break them down) after 3 years I was still finding recognizable pieces, and those pieces had SHARP edges which were a real problem when I was using my hands to spread compost around plants!
However, there are now some plastic bottles made from 30% plant sources that are recyclable with regular #1 plastic. The other 70% is still petroleum, but at least it’s an improvement for those times when a plastic bottle is really the best option, such as ketchup (in my opinion)–Heinz is using them for SOME of its bottles now.
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