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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?