No Plastic- Where do you draw the line?

[Lissybug]

I see some of you identify yourselves as "no plastic" mamas. What does this mean? How no plastic are you? Dh and I really dislike plastic stuff, and try not to import anymore of it into our home. But so many things just are made of plastic- and it seems there is not another option. What to do?

[eden/averymum]

interesting question.

what about tupperware?

[srain]

I'm not completely anti-plastic and have a good amount of it in my house, but I can think of replacements for pretty much all of it EXCEPT for appliances. I'd have a really hard time finding a baby monitor/ computer/ vacuum cleaner/ refrigerator/ etc. without plastic. What other sorts of things were you thinking of?

[MelMel]

its great that most non-plastic alternatives are at thrift stores...since nearly plastic-free kitchens/homes arent too deep in the past and plastic-free alternatives are usually cheaper than plastic new ones when bought that way. but in agreement with the srain, appliances and the like are just plastic. and if you wanna play the game, you gotta do it their way.

certain plastic things have stayed around here, even if i feel icky about them....sippy cups for travel, ziploc bags here and there....some fleece diaper covers. small appliances are a bit easier since you dont need half of them, and the other half usually have alternatives. I couldnt find a waffle maker (dh for some odd reason loves to make and eat waffles) without tefflon and plastic till i went to the thrift store and this amazing one thats all metal was to be had for a couple dollars. works great.

but ball canning jars come in lots of sizes and make great storage containers for bulk goods and leftover foods/frozen stuff, etc.....and they are WAY cheaper than any tupperware...I can get a dozen for just a few dollars at a discount homewares store.

i find baskets in thrift for storage instead of rubbermaid tubs, or cardboard boxes for stackables...but i do use plastic flippers since metal scrapes my cast iron up too much. maybe wood flippers? anyone use those? do they even HAVE those, lol?

I dont stress about it, I just try not to bring anything new into the house thats plastic, which really helps with not bringing anything new into the house-period
are you having a problem with replacing certain things? post them up and lets see if we can collectively come up with some more earth and people friendly alternatives!

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by srain

I'm not completely anti-plastic and have a good amount of it in my house, but I can think of replacements for pretty much all of it EXCEPT for appliances. I'd have a really hard time finding a baby monitor/ computer/ vacuum cleaner/ refrigerator/ etc. without plastic. What other sorts of things were you thinking of?

Same here. It's tough to find alternatives sometimes, but some creative thinking usually works. If I'm having trouble avoiding plastic, I ask myself what folks used before there was plastic.

We use lots of glass for kitchen storage, baskets, and cloth bags around the house etc.

I'd be happy to give you specifics...

[Lissybug]

I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for your ummm... philosophy on plastic in your home. I mean did you go through and get rid of a bunch of plastic things(tupperware, toys, polyester clothing)? I guess the idea of no plastic is just dawning on me and I'm curious for a little "glimpse" into your homes.

[Linda in OZ]

I try to minimise the amount of plastic in our home, it has been more of a gradual thing, if I need to replace something I just try to make sure I buy a non-plastic version.

[mystic~mama]

I got rid of all the plastic kitchen items...drinking and eating from plastic is something I avoid as much as possible, it especially concerns me for dd who is still developing. I use glass water jugs and will spend more money on food that is packaged in glass.

plastic toys are also the other thing I cleared out...she probably has a couple little things that have creeped in but overall we have very little plastic.

I use fleece diaper covers though, its interesting...I never thought of them as plastic although I only like to wear natural fiber clothing...I didnt have good luck with other types of covers and she is almost out of diapers now anyway.

you cant completely escape plastic but you can definitely decrease usage by a lot with some effort...it seemed like a daunting task at first but its really not that difficult.

[serenetabbie]

I have wooden turners/spatulas/whatevertheyare. They are bamboo and I bought them from Pampered Chef. I would guess they sell them other places too, but I live pretty far away from any store that might carry something like that.

Other than that, I have loads of plastic in my house *sigh*

Does anyone have experience with canvas shower curtains? I would like to buy one, but someone told me they are not very waterproof?

[mystic~mama]

i have a cotton shower curtian that works fine with no liner, thats another thing i dont want in my home, vinyl, yuck.

[Mybabymommy]

We are almost no plastic

We have no plastic dishes, cups or silver.

We still have Toys and totes, some hangers..........

Geesh, now that I think about it, we are still pretty plastic. Ask me again at the end of summer, hopefully I'll be able to give a better answer.

Sarah

[Collin'sMama]

Someone educate me....what are the problems w/ having plastic in the home??

TIA!!

[Mybabymommy]

For us.......

Originally Posted by Collin'sMama

Someone educate me....what are the problems w/ having plastic in the home??

TIA!!

Partially environmental, partially mind set.

We are trying not to lead a disposable life. I don't like the idea of having things that can get germy and will just end up in a landfill. There is no personality or style to it. In a nut shell, it's not *classy*

I am trying to teach the children that they are better than "that" and can use real big people things. It teaches them to be careful and gentle with our possetions.

Avoiding plastic as a rule, keeps me from cluttering out lives with cheap stuff. It makes me think twice while in a store and I save quite a bit of money that way.


Sarah

[Mybabymommy]

My answer

Originally Posted by Lissybug

I guess I'm just trying to get a feel for your ummm... philosophy on plastic in your home. I mean did you go through and get rid of a bunch of plastic things(tupperware, toys, polyester clothing)? I guess the idea of no plastic is just dawning on me and I'm curious for a little "glimpse" into your homes.

I grew up in a "non plastic" home. I have no idea how my mom and dad came to that position, as it was in place my whole life. I think that maybe my dad's very poor home life as a child and my mother's very fortunate home life might have played a role as my father's family could not afford it and my mother's had enough money to avoid it ???

On my own, I departed from my upbringing and lead a rather mainstream life for awhile including most of the "stuff" that comes with it.

I made a conscious decision about 2 years ago, when I looked around and watched the behaviors that were supported by the feeling of indestructibility that plastics gave the children. (tossing dishes, stepping on toys, banging and hitting....)

I started with a giant one week purge of all things plastic in the kitchen, and moved slowly through the house. I have hit a road block where in most of my organizational tools are plastic such as bins and totes. Also, at this point wooden hangars are a bit cost prohibitive so I will wait at bit before I continue my purge!

[kathirynne]

My .2

Originally Posted by Collin'sMama

Someone educate me....what are the problems w/ having plastic in the home??

TIA!!

In addition to the biodegradability and disposability concerns, I also have a "foreign policy" issue with plastic. Plastic is a product of the petroleum industry. In other words, less plastic usage= less petroleum usage= less dependance on the Middle East.

[MomToKandE]

Originally Posted by MelMel

but i do use plastic flippers since metal scrapes my cast iron up too much. maybe wood flippers? anyone use those? do they even HAVE those, lol?

What about silicone? Silicone is glass based and comes in tons of great colors.

[bendmom]

I have started to throw out or donate plastic junk (toys) that I find that never get played with. I reuse yogurt containers, etc. But I can't imagine going completely free. Computers are plasic. My storage bins are mostly plastic, but I am slowely switching to basket as I can afford it. I have never thought about switching out my spatulas, etc. I would like to do wood, but isn't that wasteful of a tree as well? I always burned dh wood mixing spoons, and silicone seems to work great, but I just don't know where to draw the line. I use recycled bags from Wild Oats for ds and dh lunch on the mountain. They seem to lose everything in the lodege and buying a new lunch box every weekend seems wasteful as well.

[mystic~mama]

Originally Posted by MomToKandE

What about silicone? Silicone is glass based and comes in tons of great colors.

glass based ?

wow, interesting

[2Sweeties1Angel]

Silicone is glass based and comes in tons of great colors.

You mean I've been shoving glass up my vagina (Diva Cup)??????

[zjande]

And on top of all the other reasons listed, I avoid plastics because I fear they are or may be carcinogens. I've read even in mainstream news sources that we should never cook things in plastic in the microwave due to carcinogens from the plastic leaking into our foods. I'm so cancer-phobic, I'm trying to stayt away from as many things that even might be carcinogenic (is that a word?) as I can.

That being said, I've only recently started liberating the plastics from my home, & this thread was so helpful because I was stuck on the Tupperware thing. I read the pp's canning jar suggestion & went "duh!" What a great idea! I'm going to have to get a bunch of those.....

I get very, very stuck on baby toys though. I thrift store shop for most of my kids stuff & can bring home a great haul of fun toys for pennies on the dollar what they'd go for new-- but they're nearly all plastic!! I just haven't yet figured out what to use instead, short of buying the zillion dollar wood toys from the fancy organic wooden baby toy companies. I guess that may deserve a thread of its own though.