The blog formerly known as   Fake Plastic Fish

Monthly Archives: August 2015

August 24, 2015

My Favorite Plastic-Free Sandwich and Snack Baggies and Containers

Are you still relying on plastic baggies, bags, or containers to pack lunches for school or work? Are you concerned about the chemicals that can leach out of plastics into the foods you or your kids eat? A lot of plastic food containers are touted as BPA-free. But BPA-free does not necessarily mean safe because the chemicals used in place of BPA can have the same harmful effects. And plastics like polypropylene may contain antibacterial chemicals like Triclosan, which have been found to leach.

Here are a few of my favorite reusable cloth and stainless steel sandwich/snack baggies or containers.  My criteria for selecting them as my favorites are that 1) they contain the least amount of plastic or other synthetic polymers, and 2) I know and respect the owners of the companies that make them.  This is by no means an exhaustive list of the offerings out there.

Life Without Plastic Baggies and Containers

Life Without Plastic was founded by Jay Sinha… Read the rest

August 2, 2015

One Week Without Plastic Trash in Germany

The following is a guest post by two German students, Laura and Sophie, who tried an experiment to live one week without plastic trash.  Please enjoy, and if you know of good resources in Germany, please be sure and leave a comment for them.

Sophie:

The first plastic-free shopping

The first plastic-free shopping was not that easy. Once you enter the supermarket, you notice that there is almost nothing you can buy as you would normally do. Usually, I am going to the supermarket and buy the things I like the most and which are affordable. But now there is a restriction: no plastic package. Here in Germany, they do not offer the vegetables I am always buying without plastic package. So I have to take another salad and different apples and put them into my reusable bag. Somehow I think it is better to put them into different plastic bags. But why? Actually, I do not know why and it is senseless as well. Now I know: the vegetables are the same and do not break if they … Read the rest

August 2, 2015

Homemade Tooth Powder and Facial Scrub Recipes, Sans Plastic Microbeads

Are you still rubbing plastic all over your face?

Since I first reported on microbeads–those tiny bits of plastic added to facial scrubs, toothpaste, and other personal care products–in 2007 and then again in 2013, the NY Times has reported on them, several U.S. states have passed legislation to ban them,  Canada is on the verge of banning them, and the Story of Stuff Project has created a video and campaign to get other states and countries to follow suit.  (Please follow that link, if you haven’t already, to take action and ask your representatives to ban microbeads where you live.)

But the trouble with some of  the proposed legislation is that it allows companies to switch to “biodegradable” plastic microbeads.  That’s a problem because most “biodegradable” plastics will not actually biodegrade in the cold waters of the ocean, making them just as much of a problem as the original… Read the rest