Life Without Plastic Blog

Some Titanium Dioxide with your Milk?

For those of you who didn't know that many "unknown" chemicals are added to plastic used in food packaging, you had better read this news from Plastic Technologies, Inc. (PTI): http://www.bevnet.com/news/2010/11-2-2010-PET-Dairy. PTI is announcing the use of a new technology (oPTI^TM) to manufacture plastic bottles for storing light sensitive dairy products such as milk and drinkable yogurts. This technology allows the company to use fewer additives in the manufacturing process "which can limit package recycling". The company's Vice-President states in the press release that "[d]airy applications (...) are sensitive to UV rays which decrease shelf life. To solve the problem, additives such as titanium dioxide [TiO₂] are frequently added to high density polyethylene or traditional PET containers to achieve shelf-life objectives. In addition to impacting the recycling stream, these additives are expensive (...)." The company also indicates that it can use many different colors to its bottles using this technology, but that "these cannot be recycled as part of the clear PET stream."

So what is interesting in reading this news clip is the confirmation of the many additives mixed with plastic resins to obtain the final product packaging. It is also disconcerting to realize that there is no way of knowing what these additives are as there is no mandatory disclosure in the USA and Canada. Companies seem to be free to add whatever additives they want under the assumption that they do not impact the content that is being packaged. I surely hope some exceptions exist with lead and other toxic chemicals. I invite you to check out the Green Science Policy Institute's website and Arlene Blum's youtube videos for some information. Arlene Blum is the expert. Her talk on TEDx GPGP was one of my favorites.

The other interesting fact is that some additives, especially colours, affect the "recyclability" of plastic bottles. This "recyclability", or should I say "downcyclability", is already very low with only 7% of all plastics being made into new products. So if you absolutely have to buy a plastic container, try and find one that is as transparent as possible.

Chantal Plamondon, Co-Owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

 [photo credit: Plastic Technnologies, Inc.]

Mint leaf removal duty

This post may not initially appear to have anything to do with plastic. Just wait. Read on to the end.

I love mint tea. It's a primal sort of thing. There is something about the smell of fresh whole peppermint that puts me in another state of being - it's such an ethereal, magical fragrance. For me it's tinged with comfy homey memories of Mom, cozy warmth, an Olbas oil neck massage, summer, deep velvety green, hot mint tea by the fire on a snowy winter day.

Right now I'm on peppermint leaf removal duty. This is not an arduous task. It is a supreme pleasure. My fingers are perfumed by the leaves. We share a garden with our neighbour Peter, and this mint comes from there. He's a master gardener and master accordian player. Tons of talent, that guy; I learn a lot from him. I harvested it a few weeks ago and it has been drying on our basement radiant floor ever since. So tonight I decided to take all the dry leaves off the stems to prepare my winter stock of peppermint for tea. It's slow going because there is a lot. I drink a lot of mint tea. When I'm done I'll have a couple of large jars full of delectable mint leaves, just yearning to impart their magic through a boiling water bath for a few minutes. Then into my body to shimmer my soul.

Not all mint teas are made alike. When I'm out of the fresh gold, I use bulk leaves or tea bags bought from a store. And I can now immediately sense the quality of the tea after the first sip. If it's really good, I'll know as soon as I smell it. But nothing compares to peppermint grown with love in one's garden. I do believe plants respond to our personal energies, and when they sense love, they respond in kind. But that's a deep topic for another post.

As write this, I'm listening to Beck's album, The Information. Here's the information that I will wrap this post up with, and hopefully it will bring it all home for you, make it all make sense...  Mint is so real. It is full of the richness of life. The best life has to offer. It feeds and stimulates the senses in profound positive ways. Clothed in rich lush green, it is one of those special messengers of Mother Earth, full of symbolism and beauty. It says with elegant simplicity, "To know me is to love me and the Earth that grows me."

When I hold a piece of plastic, it just doesn't seem real. Oh yeah, it isn't. It's fake - synthetic chemicals - and it's tricky stuff. Take polycarbonate, made of bisphenol A. One of the reasons the plastics industry loves it for consumer products is precisely because it does not have an odour. So it releases dangerous junk into our food, drink, skin, air, but you have no way of knowing this unless you do some complex expensive testing. Mint, on the other hand, imparts an odour that reflects its reality and makes the world a better place.

Maybe it's not a fair comparison: mint vs BPA. But it struck me tonight so I thought I'd share it with you. I'll take the natural over the synthetic any day. And now back to mint removal duty. I'm only half done. The mint is lovely dark and deep, and I have miles to go before I sleep.

-Jay Sinha, Co-Owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

(Image via: http://www.indiamarks.com/guide/Chatpati-Chutney-and-delicious-Ready-Powder-recipes-/879)

The Plastic Industry is Rejoicing Over Its Conquest of our Daily Lives

Check out this post on a website called "World Plastic Industry". It describes how plastic has become indispensable in our daily lives... starting with your mobile phone and alarm clock, it goes through everything we use on a daily basis including packaging and building materials. It makes me feel so sad to realize that we have been won over with subtle but durable changes to our lifestyles that now seem irreversible.  Irreversible because in some cases, we have completely lost the incentives to create non-plastic alternatives because the whole infrastructure has changed to accommodate plastic-based solutions. One good example comes from the packaging industry.  Plastic is now being recognized as the only "hygienic" way of packaging take-out food. When I approached a local restaurant in my town to offer some reusable stainless steel containers for take out food, they decided to pass because they could not be certain people will clean their containers properly, and they do not want to take responsibility for bacteria that could eventually contaminate the food. The plastic industry is behind much of the fear circulating about hygiene in reusable products. Another example comes from the medical industry.  Look at your doctor's office, and how many items are made of plastic and intended for single use. My doctor used to take my oral temperature with a plain old disinfected thermometer, but now she uses a single-use plastic straw-looking extension that attaches to a high tech machine. The company makes money not only when it sells the machine but also when it sells the disposable plastic extensions, which the machine user is obliged to continue purchasing in order to use the machine. That's how plastic has invaded our lives... slowly changing the way we live.

Chantal Plamondon, co-owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com