Recycle, Reuse, and Replace Bad Plastic Containers

If you read my article What Plastic Containers Should We Get Rid Of? Then you’ve probably already went through your cupboards getting rid of any plastics that have the number 1, 3, 6 or 7. Now what do you do with the bad plastic?

Recycle: When you’re recycling plastic bottles (water bottles, for example), never leave the cap on the bottle itself. Why? via H2Oforyou.com According to Jessica Jenson of Low Impact Living:
“They just chuck any bottles with lids on them”. The folks at the recycling plant simply won’t take the time (or expend the energy) to take lids off of plastic bottles. Throw the lids in the trash, and recycle the plastic bottles alone.

Reuse: water bottle rocket, things you can do with plastic water bottles, the many uses of plastic bottles and Avent baby bottle tops work on Smuckers jars Cheap Way to Get Rid of Plastic Baby Bottles

Free Replacement: The Canadian government is the first to declare BPA a toxic poison. If you live in Canada you can take all your old bottles back to the store and have them replaced with non BPA bottles for free, Advent included. You can no longer purchase any bottles in Canada with BPA.

More information

• What Plastic Containers Should We Get Rid Of?
• http://www.iatp.org/
• Bottled Water, Bottled Hype Part 1
• Avent nipples fit Gerber gentle flow

“Actually, we replaced all our Avent bottles with the Gerber gentle flow bottles. They’re BPA free and you can get them at Walgreens. All of the Avent nipples, rings and tops are interchangeable!”

Cheap Way to Get Rid of Plastic Baby Bottles by Carrie Kirby

Photo: Swistle

Chemical worries can wreak havock with a parent’s budget. “Anything for Baby,” Gerber proclaims, but sometimes I wonder: When I spend in the “anything” category to avoid possible contaminants, is it really “anything for Mommy’s psyche?”

Fears about contaminants in polycarbonate plastic baby bottles such as the popular Avent brand have been widespread. The chemical BPA, found in hard, clear plastic, has been shown to be a hormone distrupter. But for parents who invested in a slew of Avent bottles, replacing the whole system can be cost prohibitive. And Avent nipples are pretty nice — if your baby is used to those, I can see not wanting to switch to another brand of bottle at any price.

One blog has a very frugal suggestion: Keep the silicone nipples that come with the Avent bottles, but screw them onto a glass bottle. A Smuckers jam jar, to be exact.

Et viola. According to Swistle, who originally posted both the photo and the idea, the Avent nipple will screw onto an Avent bottle with nary a leak. Actually, the blogger’s mother came up with the idea. Through trial and error, Swistle et famille found that this works with the 10-ounce or 12-ounce bottles, not the 18-ounce size. And what infant needs an 18-ounce bottle, anyway?

How much are you saving here? Well, an Evenflo glass bottle costs around $2, while the Born Free brand is more like $10. A jar of Smuckers sells for around $3 on Peapod and surely less on sale elsewhere, and there were 35-cents-off coupons for them in recent newspaper inserts. Of course, if you normally buy Smuckers anyway, the jars are free.

Also, Swistle pointed out to me that with the surge in popularity of glass bottles, some retailers have been fresh out of the affordable brands. (Amazon seems to have the Evenflo ones right now, though.)

The only concern I would voice on this ingenious system: Be careful with your jam jar bottles! All glass bottles can break, but I found that the glass baby bottles we used were pretty tough. I have dropped them on a tile floor with nary a chip. Since jam jars are not manufactured for repeated use, I doubt they would show the same durability. I certainly would not let a toddler crash around the house with a Smuckers “bottle” in hand.

Maybe someone out there can jury rig something like this, but to fit a Smucker’s jar?

In the end, I love the ingenuity of this idea, but I can’t tell if it appeals to my sensible side or my inner disregard for safety. What do you think? Is avoiding the potential risk of hormone disruption worth the risk of glass splinters? Or is this a method for people too tight to shell out a few extra bucks for their child’s safety?

Subscribe to the comments for this post

What Plastic Containers Should We Get Rid Of?

Are we slowly poisoning ourselves and our family by reusing plastic bottles and containers? According to recent health publications plastic containers including, baby bottles, toddler sippy cups, water bottles and other food and beverage container are leaching Bisphenol A (BPA), a compound in hard, clear polycarbonate plastics. BPA has raised concerns because it appears to mimic the effects of estrogen, interfering with hormone levels and cell signaling systems. Previous studies have shown that people exposed to high levels of BPA have a greater risk of developing uterine fibroids, breast cancer, decreased sperm counts, and prostate cancer. Babies and children are thought to be at greatest risk from the exposure. In fact, the scientific evidence warrants “a higher level of concern than those expressed by the expert [scientific] panel for possible effects of bisphenol A on prostate gland, mammary gland and early onset of puberty in exposed fetuses, infants and children,” the NTP report concludes. Even more alarming is that heating plastics that have BPA can release BPA 55 times faster than normal.

BPA is chemical used in the production of polycarbonate plastic and several types of resins. It is found in products used everyday such as compact discs, DVDs, baby bottles and other food and drink packaging. It is also commonly found in cars, sports safety equipment and water pipes.

Alternatives to polycarbonate include polyethylene and polypropylene plastics, as well as glass. Both alternative plastics are usually identifiable by recycling code, a number that should appear inside a triangular symbol on each plastic container. The number 2 marks polyethylene and the number 5, polypropylene. Polycarbonate doesn’t have a unique recycling code, but it tends to be assigned the code 7, a category for miscellaneous plastics. Various online resources—for examples, see here and here—list products said to be bisphenol A free.

What plastic containers should you get rid of?

· All polycarbonate

· Check the triangle: If you still want to go with plastic then choose the safest kind. Check the bottom of the bottle for a triangle with a number in the middle. This tells you what type of plastic used to make the bottle. Quick reference: 2,4,5 = safe, 1,3,6,7 = unsafe.

Alternatives to polycarbonate plastics

· Switch to glass bottles or those with disposable plastic liners that don’t contain BPA.

· Use microwave-safe paper plates

· Glass dishes covered with a paper towel rather than plastic wrap.

· Eden Foods, a Clinton, Mich.-based natural-foods company, sells beans and tomato products in bisphenol A-free cans.

· Some manufacturers, like BornFree, have begun to offer plastic bottles and training cups that are BPA free.

Go with stainless steel
Save money and reduce your carbon footprint: buy a water filer for home use and fill up your stainless steel bottle, which won’t leak any chemicals. Some tried and true companies include:

Sigg: The original stainless steel bottles can be found at many online sporting goods stores as well as amazon.com.

Klean Kanteen: Although manufactured in China, the company guarantees their product is safe and created in a factory with fair working conditions.

New Wave Enviro Products: Founded in 1993, this company offers several styles of stainless steel bottles.

As safe as plastic can be
Certain numbers are safer than others:

· #2 HDP or HPDE (high-density polyethylene): This high density plastic is the most resistant to chemical leaching. Most commonly found in milk jugs, detergent and shampoo bottles. Easy to spot because it will be semitransparent or a solid white color. It’s never clear.

· #4 LDPE (low density polyethylene): Although resistant to leaching, it’s almost never used in water bottles but is found in sandwich bags, cling wrap and grocery bags.

· #5 PP (polypropylene): This semi-transparent or white plastic is also resistant to chemical leaching. More used in syrup bottles and yogurt containers.

Avoid whenever possible
Try your best to turn your back on these plastics:

· #1 PET/PETE (polyethylene terephthalate): Made for one time use, these bottles should be avoided since they more than likely leach the heavy metal antimony and the hormone disrupting chemical BPA. Don’t reuse these bottles and don’t purchase if they are over six months old.

· #3 PVC (polyvinyl chloride): Known to leach two toxic chemicals, DEHP (di-2-ehtylhexyl phthalate) and bispehonal-A that are both known endocrine and hormone disruptors, this is the most common plastic used in water bottles, baby bottles and cooking oil.

· #6 PS (polystyrene): Known to leach styrene, a carcinogen that causes headaches, fatigue, dizziness, confusion, drowsiness, this plastic is most commonly used in disposable coffee cups and take out containers.

· PC/PLA: Polycarbonate: Since this plastic is made with BPA, it’s going to leach and is probably the worst plastic to use. Unfortunately it’s found in baby bottles, reusable water bottles, 5-gallon jugs (used for the office water cooler) and food-storage containers.

Tips for bottled water

· If your water smells like plastic, even just a hint, don’t drink it. Dump it or return it.

· Keep your bottled water away from heat or sunlight. Hot plastic leaches chemicals more easily.

· Don’t buy water that has been on the shelf longer than six months. Ask the store how long it’s been on the shelf. Dust is usually not a good sign.

· Don’t reuse bottles made for single use. They are breeding grounds for bacteria and will also start to break down quickly, easily releasing chemicals

· Go with stainless steel or glass whenever possible.

· Buy in bulk and stay away from the individual bottles.

· Drink tap water. Buy a home water filter and start carrying tap in your stainless steel bottle. Save money and the planet.

More information

View the full study at babystoxicbottle.org.

Study of Chemical in Plastic Bottles Raises Alarm

BPA and plastic containers for more tips on minimizing your and your family’s exposure to BPA

Report Shows Dangerous Chemical Can Leach From Baby Bottles

“This is quite concerning. All 19 polycarbonate bottles [investigated in the study] leached BPA when heated. This is clearly showing that BPA is certainly leaching from popular and common consumer products,” Judith Robinson, special projects director with the Environmental Health Fund, said at a Thursday teleconference.

The new report tested six major brands of plastic baby bottles available at major retailers, including Wal-Mart and Babies-R-Us, in the United States and Canada. According to the study, 95 percent of baby bottles on the market contain BPA.

The brands tested — which included Avent, Disney/The First Years, Dr. Brown’s, Evenflo, Gerber and Playtex — all leached BPA when heated. According to the study authors, these same levels of BPA caused a range of adverse effects in laboratory animals.

Among U.S. bottles, Dr. Brown’s brand had the highest level of leaching while Avent brand bottles had the lowest levels, the report said.”

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Going Green: Stop Junk Mail and Save a Tree

Like a lot of you we seemed to get an ton of junk mail so about 6 months ago we subscribed to the GreenDimes Basic which is FREE and noticed a reduction in our junk mail. It was such a great deal and great service we upgraded to GreenDimes Premium which promised to reduce our junk mail up to 90%. We still get some junk mail but it definitely reduces the amount of mail trash we have every time we go to the mail box.

GreenDimes stops your entire household’s junk mail and plants 10 trees on your behalf for $20. GreenDimes also offers you the choice to remove only the catalogs you don’t want. Their impact is huge. In just over a year, they’ve stopped 3 million pounds of junk mail and saved/planted 1,000,000 trees.

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Going Green: Non-toxic recipes for Veggie and Window Cleaner from the Oprah Show

Veggie Cleaner Spray (Julia Robert’s and green guru Sophie Uliano, author of Gorgeously Green .)

If you can’t buy organic produce, you need to make sure you wash it thoroughly. Use this spray to make sure your fruit and vegetables are squeaky clean. Combine all ingredients in a large container. Then, transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. Spray mixture on produce, and rinse thoroughly after 5 to 10 minutes.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. baking soda

• 20 drops of grapefruit seed extract
  

Streak-free window cleaner (Sandra Bullock’s recipe)

• mixes three tablespoons of vinegar
• 1/3 teaspoon of pure liquid vegetable soap (like castile soap )
• two cups of water in a recycled spray bottle

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Going Green: Before it was cool

Since today is Earth Day I decided I would dedicate this blog to the person that taught me the most about recycling, reusing and re-purposing, my mother. The reason my mom had a black belt in recycling, reusing and re-purposing was not because she lived through the depression nor was it because she is a tree-hugging ex-hippie; she was simply trying to support a family of 6 on a teachers salary. In the past she had been accused of being cheap but I would like to suggest that in reality she was just going green before it was cool.

Here are a few tips you can use straight from my mother’s book of recycling, reusing, and repurposing.

Wax paper from your cereal box: Once you finish the cereal from the wax paper bag it was contained in then you can re-purpose the wax paper for cooking or other uses. Simply pull the bag apart until its flat and you have a perfectly good piece of wax paper.

Welfare Gore-Tex: My parents couldn’t afford to buy special winter gear for us so if we didn’t get it second-hand then we would have to make do. This is where the “Welfare Gore-Tex” (nickname my brothers gave it) came into play. My mother would save bread sacks and we would layer socks and bread sacks to form a warm water-proof barrier for our feet and legs. Our Welfare Gore-Tex would enable us to play for hours in the snow.

Butter/Margarine wrappers: Once you have unwrapped your sticks of butter or margarine fold the wrappers and keep them in your refrigerator. These wrappers have little bits of butter/margarine stuck to them so the wrappers are great for greasing cookie sheets or frying pans.

Toilet paper CAN be recycled: Growing up my brother’s and I were in sports so usually during Homecoming our house would be toilet-papered. Most people would look at this as a big mess to clean up. My mother saw this as free toilet paper. We would have to gather up all the bits of paper off the trees and bushes and then this would be our every day toilet paper for the bathroom. There would be little bits of twig on some of the paper so you would take caution in wiping.

Expiration dates are just a suggestion: My mom never believed in expiration dates. If the food looked ok, smelled ok, then it was ok for consuming. *To her credit none of us went to the hospital for food poisoning.

All grease/oil is reusable: My mom kept a container on the stove for storing any sort of excess grease or oil from cooking. This was especially useful when cooking bacon since there is always lots of excess grease. This bucket-o-grease was then handy for the next time you needed some sort of cooking lubricant. Besides being VERY bad for you the only down side to this was that everything my mom cooked had a slight bacon taste to it.

Tin foil, plastic wrap, and plastic bags are all washable: I think this one is self explanatory.

Recycling dinner: My mother was a firm believer in leftover’s. If one night we had bean soup, the next night we would have bean soup tacos and then perhaps the next night we would have some sort of bean soup taco dip.

Plastic ware: This includes plastic forks, knives, spoons, plates and cups. If you have the luxury of buying plastic ware you can get months use out of them by simply washing and reusing.

You can freeze everything: If my mom found something on sale at the grocery store she would buy several months supply. This would include food items that wouldn’t normally keep several months like bread, cheese, meat, etc. All of this food would be placed in our large freezer for use at a later date.

Subscribe to the comments for this post

Going Green - How to make your own non-toxic cleaners

In addition to being pregnant I also have two little ones so I’m very cautious about what kind of cleaners I use and the cleaners my kids are exposed to. There are several great non-toxic brands on the market like Seventh Generation however I’ve opted to make my own non-toxic cleaners.

How to make a non-toxic cleaner

Making your own nontoxic cleaning kit will take you no time at all with these simple, straightforward directions, and with this kit you will be supplied with enough cleaning product for months of cleaning.

As an added bonus, ounce for ounce homemade cleaning formulas cost about one-tenth the price of their commercial counterpart—and that includes costly, but worthwhile essential oils, and concentrated, all-purpose detergents for homemade recipes.

SUPPLIES
Baking soda
Washing soda
White distilled vinegar
A good liquid soap or detergent
Tea tree oil
6 clean spray bottles
2 glass jars

CREAMY SOFT SCRUBBER
Simply pour about 1/2 cup of baking soda into a bowl, and add enough liquid detergent to make a texture like frosting. Scoop the mixture onto a sponge, and wash the surface. This is the perfect recipe for cleaning the bathtub because it rinses easily and doesn’t leave grit.

Note: Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable glycerin to the mixture and store in a sealed glass jar, to keep the product moist. Otherwise just make as much as you need at a time.

WINDOW CLEANER
1/4-1/2 teaspoon liquid detergent
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups water
Spray bottle

Put all the ingredients into a spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. The soap in this recipe is important. It cuts the wax residue from the commercial brands you might have used in the past.

OVEN CLEANER
1 cup or more baking soda
Water
A squirt or two of liquid detergent

Sprinkle water generously over the bottom of the oven, then cover the grime with enough baking soda that the surface is totally white. Sprinkle some more water over the top. Let the mixture set overnight. You can easily wipe up the grease the next morning because the grime will have loosened. When you have cleaned up the worst of the mess, dab a bit of liquid detergent or soap on a sponge, and wash the remaining residue from the oven. If this recipe doesn’t work for you it is probably because you didn’t use enough baking soda and/or water.

ALL-PURPOSE SPRAY CLEANER
1/2 teaspoon washing soda
A dab of liquid soap
2 cups hot tap water

Combine the ingredients in a spray bottle and shake until the washing soda has dissolved. Apply and wipe off with a sponge or rag.

FURNITURE POLISH
1/2 teaspoon oil, such as olive (or jojoba, a liquid wax)
1/4 cup vinegar or fresh lemon juice
Mix the ingredients in a glass jar. Dab a soft rag into the solution and wipe onto wood surfaces. Cover the glass jar and store indefinitely.

VINEGAR DEODORIZER
Keep a clean spray bottle filled with straight 5 percent vinegar in your kitchen near your cutting board and in your bathroom and use them for cleaning. I often spray the vinegar on our cutting board before going to bed at night, and don’t even rinse but let it set overnight. The smell of vinegar dissipates within a few hours. Straight vinegar is also great for cleaning the toilet rim. Just spray it on and wipe off.

MOLD KILLERS

Tea Tree Treasure
Nothing natural works for mold and mildew as well as this spray. I’ve used it successfully on a moldy ceiling from a leaking roof, on a musty bureau, a musty rug, and a moldy shower curtain. Tea tree oil is expensive, but a little goes a very long way. Note that the smell of tea tree oil is very strong, but it will dissipate in a few days.

2 teaspoons tea tree oil
2 cups water

Combine in a spray bottle, shake to blend, and spray on problem areas. Do not rinse. Makes two cups.

Vinegar Spray
Straight vinegar reportedly kills 82 percent of mold. Pour some white distilled vinegar straight into a spray bottle, spray on the moldy area, and let set without rinsing if you can put up with the smell. It will dissipate in a few hours.

Subscribe to the comments for this post