Life Without Plastic Blog

Plastic Consumption On the Rise in India - Say Goodbye to the Tiffin Catering Services

According to Karachi News Net, plastic goods consumption is expected to double in the next three years in India, most of it from food packaging. This news outlines a scary trend. When Jay and I visited India back in December 2002, I was impressed with how little plastic was used on a daily basis. Families could not afford to buy plastic products that would not last. Instead, they would use stainless steel containers that would be passed on from generations to generations. Most of the food was freshly prepared as refrigerators were not widely available. Tiffin food catering services were used for offering office workers fresh meals delivered to their office  doors. This is all changing as mentality is shifting from the long term to the short term. The disposable consumption mentality is making its way deep into middle class India.

Check out this tiffin service in India called Zaika Tiffin service. For 50 rupees (about $1.00), you get rotis, rice, daal, two veggie dishes, salad and pickle. Delivered hot in a reusable stainless steel tiffin to your office door. I can't help but wonder how long it will take before these meals start being offered in disposable plastic containers.

We have been offering stainless steel 304 tiffins for sale at Life Without Plastic since 2006 and we have noticed a sharp increase in demand for these products in the past year. This is encouraging... Please let me know if you are aware of any catering service in North America offering its products in stainless steel instead of plastic. We would like to talk about them on this blog. Or if your local take-out restaurant might be interested in switching to re-usable stainless steel containers, let them know about us. We would love to partner with innovative Earth-conscious restaurants to start a new trend.

Chantal Plamondon, co-owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

On the Sigg Controversy...

I know, this is no fresh news... Sigg's CEO, Steve Wasik, revealed about 3 weeks ago that the lining of its water bottles contained BPA up until August 2008. The Blogosphere has been vibrating all over with this news and with good reason! It is perplexing to me that this company let people buy their products knowing they were cashing in on a false assumption that their products did not contain any BPA. In a letter that Steve Wasik published last week on the Sigg website in response to the controversy he wrote:

I have learned much over the past 2 weeks. I learned that many of you purchased SIGG bottles - not just because they were free from leaching and safe - but because you believed that SIGGs contained no BPA. I learned that, although SIGG never marketed the former liner as “BPA Free” we should have done a better job of both clearly communicating about our liner as well as policing others who may have misunderstood the SIGG message.

I find it surprising that he did not make the connection between presumably higher than usual SIGG sales and the BPA scare in the media. I find it a bit hard to believe that he did not know consumers were buying his bottles thinking it was BPA-free.

Four years ago, when we started our business, we contacted Sigg to get one sample and a price list. The company's Canadian representative sent us this HUGE and HEAVY box full of glossy marketing material when all we asked for was a sample. They shipped that box Express and they made us pay for the shipping which amounted to more than $150.00. When we asked for a partial refund of the shipping fees, we were flatly refused. Not a good start... When we asked the company what the lining was made of, the company replied that it was a trade secret but it was a vegetable-based epoxy that was perfectly food-safe. We did not like the secrecy and we stocked Klean Kanteens instead. Now the company is trying to convince us that its new lining, which is again a trade secret, is food-safe. I do not know if I want to take the risk...

Chantal Plamondon, co-owner
LifeWithoutPlastic.com

Yikes - wine in plastic! I'll stick to glass, thanks

The Wine Industry Association of Western Australia doesn't think moving from glass to plastic bottles for wine is necessarily a bad idea.  I don't know about you, but it would make me not want to drink the wine.  And it appears the Southern Australian wine maker Wolf Blass has already begun to offer some of it's wines in polyethylene terepthalate (PET) bottles. The main claimed justification is environmental:  i.e., that the plastic bottles create 29% less greenhouse gas emissions and are much lighter.  There does not appear to be any mention of the move to plastic bottles being significantly cheaper for the winemaker.  Greenwashing?  Perhaps it was inevitable in this often bottom-line, convenience-driven world we live in, but the thought of vino sitting and aging in plastic just does not seem right.  The company says the wines being packaged in these bottles are not intended for cellaring, but to be consumed within 48 hours.  So what happens after 48 hours?  And for those who do go ahead and cellar it unknowingly, should they expect it to taste better after 10 years of being surrounded by PET?  It'll certainly be more potent.

- Jay

My first post! Just wish it wasn't a sad one...more bad news about BPA

Yay, my first post on our new Life Without Plastic blog!  What fun!  I'm Chantal's partner, Jay, the other founder of Life Without Plastic.

Unfortunately, I have some bad news - not a rare thing in the world of plastics. Some recent articles in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) highlight new research indicating more problems with bisphenol A (BPA), the estrogen-mimicking synthetic chemical used to make polycarbonate plastic and the plastic linings of most food and beverage cans.  BPA has been linked to various health problems including cancers, obesity, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and alteration of hormonal, developmental and reproductive functions -- often at extremely low levels of the chemical.

An article in the November 2008 issue of the journal indicates that BPA may build up to a level 11 times greater in newborns than adults because babies lack a key liver enzyme required to break the chemical down. For this reason, one of the researchers recommends parents try to avoid exposing their infants to BPA and that pregnant women miminize their BPA ingestion to protect the fetus. Read an overview of the article in today's Globe & Mail. And here is the actual article in EHP.

As well, the February 2009 issue of EHP features an article showing how BPA blocks the effects of certain breast cancer chemotherapy drugs. This research is especially relevant as it gives some idea of how BPA may affect established breast cancer and its treatment in humans - in much of the previous research, animal studies have shown how BPA increases susceptibility to certain cancers. The authors conclude that these data provide considerable support for the accumulating evidence that BPA is hazardous to human health. I think we can now take that as a given. Check out the EHP site for an overview of the article and the actual article.

I'll try to find some happier news for my next post.

- Jay

The War on Plastic

I just discovered this new product... It is a reusable plastic bag that comes with its neoprene plastic pouch (plastic again) with the large text "WAR ON PLASTIC" written on the front of the bag. So what does this product really stage war against? Certainly not on plastic as this bag just proved that it cannot exist without it. I guess the message is still useful but it is unfortunate it is not staged in a more clever way. It looks like it is all about making money through provoking a strong reaction in customers.

The fight for a plastic-free life is full of these contradictions... this love-hate relationship we have with plastic. I can't live with you, but I can't live without you.

- Chantal

 

Public Schools in Maryland to acquire Polycarbonate Compartmented Trays for Schools

I just discovered today a news piece about a school board in Elkridge Maryland agreeing to spend $45,924 to purchase 10,320 compartmented trays made of polycarbonate plastic (the kind that contains BPA) to be used by school children. I am disappointed that the science behind the dangers of this type of plastic is still not fully accepted, therefore putting thousands of children at risk. As I understand it, these trays will be used like a plate and will be in contact with food.

Just as a reminder, the Canadian Government declared this chemical toxic to human health last fall. BPA is a known hormone disruptor linked to the development of cancer cells in animals and to breast cancer in humans (http://www.breastcancerfund.org/site/pp.asp?c=kwKXLdPaE&b=2638145). It is also linked to damage in the development of the brain (Bisphenol A prevents the synaptogenic response to estradiol in hippocampus and prefrontal cortex of ovariectomized nonhuman primates.).

I guess that money is behind this decision... This desire to save will result not only in children's health being exposed to this dangerous plastic, but also in tons more plastics littering the environment.

Full article, follow this link: BOE OKs new plastic trays.

 

- Chantal

Does the Plastic Industry Really Care about your Health?

On January 19th, Life Without Plastic was invited to attend the Ottawa launch of the campaign "Unbottle It!" by the Council of Canadians ("C of C"). The campaign aims at encouraging individuals to drink less bottled water and more tap water for environmental and health reasons. There is now so much reliance on plastic water bottles everywhere that schools, malls, offices are phasing out water fountains and municipalities are spending less money on water purification technology. We were told we must change this trend which encourages the proliferation of plastic water bottles.

I listened with great interest to what Maude Barlow, the President of the C of C, had to say and I realized to what extent I had been brainwashed by the plastic industry for years and years. She said that the common belief that we require 2 litres (8 cups) of water a day in order to be healthy is completely unfounded and is promoted by the plastic industry to encourage people to buy more plastic water bottles. This reminded me of an article I had read in the Winnipeg Free Press last year (http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/historic/32788919.html). In the article four physicans were asked questions about health myths people entertain on all kinds of subject. What struck me was the following question:

Do you drink eight glasses of water in a day?

Family: No. (Is it important?) No.

Oncologist: I drink about three. (Is it important?) No.

Surgeon: I'm drinking one right now... Probably six to seven.

General: No I don't! I drink when I'm thirsty.

I was surprised to read that three out of four doctors did not think it important to drink eight glasses a day. Quite the contrary. That started me thinking about my own drinking habits. Especially the fact that I always have to remind myself to drink because I am just not THAT thirsty during the day. I very rarely drink more than 5 glasses of water per day and I have always felt guilty for this. Not anymore. I just discovered that it is a myth that the plastic industry wants you to believe in and perpetrate. I am not saying water is not good for you. It is absolutely, you need it, but you do not have to over drink it if in the end your body will end up dumping most of it in the toilet. What convinced me of the plastic industry's hidden agenda was the following video which can be found on the Plastic/Chemical Industry's "Facts on Plastic" website:

How to Prevent Dehydration

In a way, I am relieved to discover I do not have to feel guilty anymore about not drinking water when I am not thirsty, but at the same time I am astonished and disappointed to learn I had been completely brainswashed by that message without ever questioning it.

Now I am wondering, what else do I do on a daily basis that is based on a false assumption propagated by some industry to make me consume more products?

-chantal