No Plastic- Where do you draw the line? - Page 2

[mystic~mama]

Originally Posted by 2Sweeties1Angel

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

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

i thought you were going to say something else...until I read the (diva cup) part

zjande~

some thoughts...

toys r us has some affordable natural wooden toys...you can find them here and there in the thrift stores also...I've found some nice deals on ebay. If you have family who likes to buy the kids gifts you can let them know you would prefer no plastic and point them to catalogs or online stores w/ wooden toys.

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by kathirynne

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.

Are all plastics made from petroleum, or is there some way to make them without using petroleum (other than the fuel used to run the factories)?

If so, I had no idea...

In our house we use some plastic, but when I can choose a reasonable non-plastic alternative I do.

[MomToKandE]

Originally Posted by 2Sweeties1Angel

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

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

LOL, I guess so but I'd rather not think about it that way!

I went looking for more info and found some on this site: http://www.dld123.com/q&a/qandatemp.php?id=Q24 Looks like silicone won't biodegrade but it is inert, won't transfer anything to food, doesn't produce hazerdous waste, and can be recycled.

If you'd rather use wooden tools here's a site with some made from reclaimed wood and bamboo: http://www.greenfeet.com/kitchen-utensils.html

I'm trying to slowly reduce the amount of plastic we use. I don't think I'll get rid of it completely but as things wear out I'm trying to replace them with non-plastic alternatives.

Andrea

[anthasam]

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.

We avoid plastic for health and environmental reasons, like many of the previous posters mentioned.

Our kitchen is nearly plastic and completely teflon free. I do keep some tupperware to store the dogs' food when we travel.

My guidelines for DD's toys: Since she still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, if the toy is more than 10% plastic, she doesn't get it. So, she does have a few plush toys with plastic rings for attachment.

So much is plastic, it is difficult to avoid, however, we make sure that anything new (or new to us!) that comes into the house has as little plastic as possible, or is at least able to be recycled.

Thanks for the silicone links too. I was wondering about silicone bakeware (replacing my teflon...)

[kathirynne]

Kissing cousins

Originally Posted by anthasam

We avoid plastic for health and environmental reasons, like many of the previous posters mentioned.

My guidelines for DD's toys: Since she still puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, if the toy is more than 10% plastic, she doesn't get it. So, she does have a few plush toys with plastic rings for attachment.

Are the plush toys made of all natural fibers? and stuffed with all natural fibers? Most plush toys are made of polyester, which is "next of kin" to plastic. (Polyester is also a petroleum product, and has similar issues to plastic... )

[Kateana]

We try to avoid plastics, primarily for health reasons. Our baby stuff is all natural, and the fibers are organic cotton for the most part (but we quickly return any plastic or polyester gifts!). Our kitchen is mostly plastic-free, and we just generally try to avoid plastic when we can.

One thing I am having a really hard time finding is a sippy-cup alternative. My 6m old DD loves to drink out of a glass, and I don't mind holding it for her, but I think eventually I'd like to get her her own cup. Has anyone here found a non-plastic alternative? I'm hoping for a glass or wood cup with a latex or silicone top... Wishful thinking...?

[galadriel]

Originally Posted by Kateana

One thing I am having a really hard time finding is a sippy-cup alternative.

You can get a kid-sized stainless steel (no nickel leaches out) bottle with a sport top (like on bottled water) at Greenfeet.com. The new kid-sized ones are 18 oz., I believe.

This thread is reminding me to get proactive about this in my kitchen again! Pervasive plastic creeps in so easily. The kitchen is the place where it makes the most biological impact, I guess, so that's my focus.

[anthasam]

Originally Posted by kathirynne

Are the plush toys made of all natural fibers? and stuffed with all natural fibers? Most plush toys are made of polyester, which is "next of kin" to plastic. (Polyester is also a petroleum product, and has similar issues to plastic... )

Yes, but we this is where we have chosen to "draw the line" so to speak. She has organic cotton dolls and animals stuffed with wool - and trust me, I encourage her to play with those the most, but I think the benefit of cloth books and dolls outweighs the risks (IMHO).

[Aeress]

what irks me is the amount of plastic that is used to package food. I try to make as much from scratch as possible and I buy alot of things in bulk but there is still so much plastic. I just informed hubby that he can no longer use ziplock bags and he was not happy. : *laughs* I am planning to grow more veggies this summer and can but there is still all this plastic.

[Lissybug]

Originally Posted by Mybabymommy

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.

This is so true- it slows the amount of junk you bring into your home. I've also noticed asking my MIL for items made out of wood or natural materials has helped slow the wave of baby items flowing our way (that's a good thing) We get a lot of books now for gifts(also a good thing)

I'm interested to learn about silicone- thank you.

Regarding lack of second hand baby toys- for me this has been a good thing. I like to shop at Goodwill and this helps keep me from buying things I don't really need/want. At least it makes me think twice about a purchase- esspecially since reading this thread

Anyone have ideas for a non-plastic wipes container? I make wipes solution, put in wipes and put them in an old Huggies plastic container right now.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by Lissybug

Anyone have ideas for a non-plastic wipes container? I make wipes solution, put in wipes and put them in an old Huggies plastic container right now.

What about a lidded soup tureen? I've seen that recommended by a lot of family-cloth users in the natural beauty area. You'd probably want to add more solution than usual to keep it moist since the container wouldn't be as sealed.

[Glover_Girls]

I wouldn't describe myself as a "no plastic" mama for sure. But I've definitely drawn the line at cheap plastic toys. At Christmas, I spent a little more on quality non-plastic toys that would stand the test of time instead of opting for lots of plastic junk. Also, I've nearly eliminated the use of baggies and sippy cups by replacing with products I've purchased at www.reusablebags.com. A fabulous site! And they have have lead-free lunch boxes!

Any plastic food containers are rinsed and placed in the recycle bin. Basically I am trying to reduce our material stuff and so that when we do purchase something, it's quality and useful and non-plastic!

[Past_VNE]

I'm always trying to reduce our plastics load.

Currently, we have about 5% plastic toys. The remainder are wool, cotton, metal (Matchbox cars that have a bit of plastic), wooden and two stuffed (polyester) animals.

We have all glassware storage containers and pitchers. There is, I think, no plastic anywhere in our kitchen, except a sugar canister that I just haven't replaced. We soooo rarely use sugar that I never think to unload it. The rest of the kitchen is bamboo, wood, stainless, pyrex, glass, cast iron, etc. The storage containers have silicone lids.

Our bathroom has plastic bottles. That one's nearly impossible to avoid. Actually, there is a little bit of plastic in the kitchen, too, in the form of bottles. Though, I try to buy as much in glass or paper as possible. We basically buy NO cans, though, as cans are lined in Bisphenol A, which is extremely toxic.

Our curtains are all natural fibers, our blinds are metal, but our shower curtains are both some sort of unusual plastic, not the normal PVC variety. They aren't any safer, but they're nicer quality which means less replacement. I've had the polyester cloth curtain and it was nice enough, but mildewed in about a year. That cloth curtain also let super-tiny droplets of water through, but it wasn't enough to damage anything in the bathroom or cause trouble. I would try a canvas one next time.

I'm currently pricing a stable of cloth grocery and produce bags from www.reusablebags.com. How many bags would you get to shop for a family of three?

As Lisa writes, we are trying very hard to reduce our material things and get quality/durability when we do buy things.

[Glover_Girls]

Hey Jaclyn, I'm so glad you are checking out reusablebags.com!! I would definitely recommend the freezer bag that you can stash frozen foods in. I sometimes shop at a whole foods market in Cambridge, MA (about an hour from my NH home) and that bag keeps frozen foods from melting on the way home. I also stick my refrigerator stuff in with the frozen items. Anyway...I have a pile of canvas tote bags that I've collected over the years and found at yardsales, etc. A great option to purchasing new. But to answer your question, I think it depends on how often you shop as to how many bags you need. Think about how many paper bags you come with on average and reduce by a few since you can load up the canvas bags a bit heavier. You can always get more later if you need them.

Way to go!!

[Past_VNE]

Good advice, Lisa.

I have one cloth bag right now, a giveaway when I talked to a hotel rep about using them frequently. I am always keeping my eyes open for things, but since I don't have the patience to sift through yard sales, my opportunities to find them are limited.

Ack....Jett's running off....gotta go. (I'm at work...sorry.)

[BCmamaof6]

NAK...

We try to minimize our plastic usage. They are a few areas that I feel are REALLY important:

Babies: no plastic or polyester. For toys, bedding, clothing. (Obviously some things such as bucking them into a plastic carseat are unavoidable)
But toys are really easy- there are lots of great wooden rattles, organic cotton or wool stuffies, etc. My baby does not need to be sucking on petrol. Diapers are especially important to me to be OC, & wool...you're putting it on their very sensitive parts...plastic IMHO is a bad thing to put there (and that includes fleece)

Children: no polyester (or poly-blend) clothing. ESPECIALLY pjs...they're in them for at least 8 hours out of every 24. This is the one item of clothing that I INSIST on being organic cotton. (we can't afford to do ALL OC with 6 kids...but we can buy a couple of pairs of PJs or nighties each...we like Hanna Andersson, Under The Nile & Ecobaby. )
Toys- the only plastic items are Lego & Playmobil- both European made with higher standards of acceptable toxic-plastic levels. The cheapest toys usually contain the highest dangerous levels. And as for used toys- a BIG no-no. Plastic breaks down over time & releases harmful fumes, particles, etc. into the environment.

Wherever possible I try to choose natural materials over plastic/polyester to minimize our exposure to carcinogens.

[nikirj]

We've gotten a bunch of cloth bags from thrift stores - you know, those company freebies and the like. Sure, we are shopping with something that says "SPRINT" in our cart, but it was $.25

We tend to use about 3 on the average run to the natural food store, 10 for our bulk runs (intended to purchase baking supplies and nonperishables for at least a month).

I forget them on occassion and that is a good thing, because I use the plastic bags to line the trash in the bathroom and to pick up particularly nasty trash outside (and occassionally inside); the former tenant here was apparently, er, not shy about leaving trash laying around in the forest : and we find bottles, cans, pots, utensils, spare parts, construction supplies....yeah.

We have eliminated plastic wrap from our kitchen. We are working on the ziploc bags and the tupperware, but slowly because DH is quite attached to both of these items. It causes him no end of strife that I haven't bought gallon ziplocs. He felt that way about the plastic wrap for a while but has adjusted. We have a lot of plastic in our kitchen and I'm pretty comfortable with that but am trying to be mindful about how it is replaced when it needs replacing. For instance, our cooking utensils are getting ragged (spaghetti spoon is missing teeth, spatula cracked...) and I won't be getting plastic to replace them, KWIM? But we're way poor, we can't just run out and replace all our plastic with glass in one fell swoop.

The kids have plastic toys but we try to avoid the worst offenders. The baby has natural-stuffed plush and plenty of wooden stuff to play with. The bigger ones are tougher though, as they've gotten into the age of legos and action figures.

[Slabobbin]

We are making the transition to a non plastic household. My reasons are the same as many listed above.

We use wooden hangers for our clothes, I have a cloth and metal laundry hamper, DD's diapers go in a stainless steel garbage can as a diaper pail (although now that I think about it, it does have plastic on the inside) . We have metal or wooden shelves. I use wooden and fabric totes to store the children's toys in. In the kitchen I use glass to store my food and have metal or wooden utensils.

The places I still have plastic are:

Appliances - my breadmaker has plastic on the outside, the coffee maker is a mix of plastic and stainless steel, the computer keyboard and monitor is plastic, etc.

Totes in my storage building - I have Rubbermaid bins to hold the children's outgrown clothing (saving them for the next one).

Small parts on toys - For the most part the kids have wooden or fabric toys but there is some plastic on DS's Thomas the Trains and on his metal Matchbox cars.

I really don't know how to eliminate those. I'm not going to take DS's Thomas away from him so we are just going to have to live with it.

[MamaMonica]

I kept plastic toys to a minimum when they were little and keep plastic out of the kitchen as much as possible (use pyrex for food storage or canning jars) but reuse some ziplocks.

However- the plastic toys- I have fallen off the wagon! I got them toy animals at the thrift store. Dd is into horses and so she has my pretty ponies I got cheap used. They play with these for hours and love them. We also have legos and building waffles.

What alternatives are there for toy animals and building? They have wooden blocks and use them to build fences and houses for the animals. They love legos also.

[minicooper]

For kitchen pans and such you may want to check out Pampered Chef's stoneware. I love that stuff and if you host a PC party you can get a lot for free, that's how I got my initial stash. They also have bamboo spatulas and spoons and such and bamboo is much better than wood because it is a renewable resource and it doesn't stain.

I am currently starting from scratch because we moved from the west coast of Canada to the east coast of the US and we are pretty broke. We only shipped 18 boxes and most of that was electronics (DH ), clothes, books and my Pampered Chef stuff. I am trying to not get anything plastic but it is so hard. The kitchen is definately no plastic and will continue to be no plastic.

Everything is made of petroleum and I hate it. I can't afford an all natural bed. That makes me mad. We weren't going to have a microwave but the person who lived in our place before us left theirs behind and DH wants to keep it - I am going to try really hard not to use it.

I am hoping that moving into a place with pretty much nothing will help to eliminate a bunch of stuff and give me time to find alternatives, I'm definately going to have to hit the thrift stores.

I wish I could build my own house or make a yurt and afford to use all safe products and have our own renewable energy source and water source and all that stuff. Be almost completely independent on ourselves for most of our resources and food.

Something to work towards I guess.