The future of plastic

And I am still using it 52 years later

Well, my Tupperware was my child's favourite toy!
Lead and arsenic?

Biodegradable plastics are a nightmare product, there are so many different types that breakdown in different ways over different time frames. Some dont actually break down at all despite the claims.

It would be better to incinerate the lot in proper high temperature incinerators and capture the energy.

A pretty useless article. The lady had them tested but the article does not say what level of these heavy metals were found in these items, whether they would be released into the child if they chewed them and how these levels compared with government recommendations for acceptable levels.

Another one of these scare articles that are far too vague for anyone to give any credence to them. There could be more of these metals in the air the child is breathing than in the Tupperware. We just do not know.

Some of the infection in ICU is so deadly that there is no way they would risk sterilisation and reuse Chestnut . The nurses told me that often the bedding used by very high risk patients is often destroyed after use too .

Thanks for that, Notspaghetti. It’s interesting but not terribly scientific. It says the woman tested her items - it doesn’t say how, or whether she used a bona fide laboratory.

My items aren’t the solid type and because they’re storage items they don’t get washed that often therefore haven’t degraded, so I’ll go on using them for now.

Hello,
I can't find the article I read but here's one from the 'Metro"
metro.co.uk/2019/08/24/mum-warns-parents-against-old-tupperware-after-finding-it-contains-lead-and-arsenic-10623825/

Prior to 2010, some Tupperware contained BPA. I think it was primarily the opaque items that are stiffer.
BPA is linked to obesity in both children and adults, developmental delay, heart disease, endocrine disorders (I think especially in girls), diabetes, breast cancer, and lots of other things.
There was also a woman in America who was making it her mission to test "everyday items" for heavy metals and other poisons. She's been doing it a few years now. I'll see if I can find a link - but it made me dispose of a good chunk of my Tupperware even though I found it useful.

We know so much now than ever before about toxicity but are still learning. SueDonim, please take a look.

Acrylic fabrics?
Acrylic yarns?

Made from acrylonitrile.

At one time fleeces were advertised as being made from recycled plastic bottles.

It is still plastic, not single use but what happens to them in the end?

Chestnut I heard that some hospitals do not accept back crutches, walking sticks or Zimmer frames which have been used on a temporary basis because it is too difficult and expensive to sterilise this equipment.

Plastic is a very recent thing as it's only been in common use for 80 - 100 years. I'm sure that biodegradeable items could replace it entirely. Of course, we'll never get it out of our seas, food and bodies - we even inhale it.

Shoes ,the label says VEGAN material by which they mean plastic.Surely my years old leather boots are more environmentally effective ,if the cow has been eaten and the leather used .I hate plastic on my feet ,I bought a pair last year and my feet sweated so much it was like wearing a mobile puddle .

Good recycling, GagaJo!

My dd tells me that when surgeons write on your body with a felt tip pen prior to surgery, the pen also gets binned as it’s single use. I hadn’t thought of that.

Gillybob I’ve just put some sugar into a plastic container. It’s a Tupperware one that I bought as part of a set circa 1975. They’re all still in regular use.

Hi, I find this interesting, when I am catering outside my home I use re-usable plastic containers(mainly ice cream ones) or foil containers.
I get lots of sarky comments about both.
Ok can someone please advise me how to transport a hot buffet for 150 people without using such containers.
Boston baked beans in a paper bag, I don't think so !!!
I re-use all plastic containers and also the foil ones unless some idiot re-cycler has crushed them up and thrown them in the bin,
As you can gather catering has become a bit of a minefield now.
I love a challenge, I just wish people were not so rude when they are explaining their opinions without listening to mine.

I realise that infection is an issue in hospitals but for goodness sake, can't these items be sterilised and used again? That is what they did in the past. It's ridiculous to throw out things like scissors.

I agree SueDonim! I worked briefly in a hospital as an administrator and would regularly collect up all the 'one use' scissors, clean them and keep them. Came in very handing when I went back into teaching! They stocked my classroom for scissors for about 3 years!

I know for a fact that the single use plastic in hospital is incinerated .

M0nica There is nothing wrong with making plastics and continuing to use them. The current problem comes from the careless discard of one use plastics, especially plastic bags.
In an ideal world everyone would dispose of their plastics correctly. This is not an ideal world. A huge number of people simply don't care and will throw them anywhere. I know a woman who doesn't bother recycling anything, it all goes in the black bin. She just doesn't bother with any of it. Others will throw their rubbish anywhere. You have to allow for people like this and make things biodegradable.

I've never frozen meals in bags, although I have frozen fruit that way, then dispose of the bags in the recycling.
Multiple use plastic, yes, and square Pyrex dishes with plastic (!) lids.
Are tinfoil dishes any better?
Does anyone know?

There is nothing wrong with making plastics and continuing to use them. The current problem comes from the careless discard of one use plastics, especially plastic bags

Totally agree with you M0nica . There are situations (as in hospitals etc) where plastic is essential . I also have 2 plastic jugs at home that I have had forever, likewise some mixing bowls and a few other things too. Can’t see the problem and I don’t know why everyone is suddenly going crazy avoiding all kinds of plastic .

We have just gone over to having our milk delivered in bottles from Milk &More. Today they added a plastic milk crate to it!

There is nothing wrong with making plastics and continuing to use them. The current problem comes from the careless discard of one use plastics, especially plastic bags.

The plastic manufacturers who have developed the many plastics we have today that make life so much easier will, over time, develop plastics that are biodegradeable and/or more easily recycled

Do not throw the baby away with the (plastic) bath water.

Maybe instead of stopping using plastic research should be stepped up on recycling ?

Currently a vast quantity of things that could be recycled aren’t so that would be a good start .

'Hidden' plastic in such articles as T-bags, kitchen towels. single use plastic does dominate our lives at present, and needs to be stopped asap.