Many of us enjoy the conveniences of using plastic, likely without even thinking about it. In fact, I bet 99% of the people reading this use plastic in their home, specifically their kitchen, for storage, drinking, etc.
But when you are on a journey to live a healthier lifestyle, you have to consider all angles of health, not just what you eat. And I bet that many of us have never considered just how bad plastic really is. In fact, it is absolutely a product that is less than ideal when it comes to safe home products.
Being that I used to work for a glassware manufacturer, I am extremely well aware of how dangerous using plastic, or overusing it, can be because I had to educate myself on plastic when developing a new product line for my previous position.
What I learned is frightening. That’s why I wanted to share 3 reasons why you should be choosing glass over plastic.
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#1 – It Is Prone to Leaching Toxins, the Opposite of a Safe Home Product
I’m sure you are familiar with or have at least heard of BPA. BPA stands for Bisphenol-a and is a chemical found in plastics, and is a starting material for the synthesis of plastics.
I could write an entire post just about BPA but the important thing to note is that it has been proven to be a hormone system disruptor because it mimics estrogen. And plastics can leach this chemical into our food, drink, and skincare products.
You know how kids seem to be going through puberty at a younger and younger age as time goes by? Well that is thanks, in part, to our good old friend BPA.
The discovery of BPA in consumer plastics was first made popular when California decided to ban, or limit it, from their products. This is great for awareness, but the problem is that BPA is not the only bad chemical in plastic. Plastic has a lot of other toxins that it can leach into food, drinks, and skincare products and makeup.
BPA just happened to be the chemical that got “caught” so to speak. So now there is a heightened sensitivity to eliminating BPA from plastics, which many often consider when looking for safe home products.
The best scenario would be if we didn’t have any food, beverage, or personal care and beauty products packaged in plastic. Unfortunately, that isn’t an option for lots of things, particularly personal care and beauty products.
So since we are stuck with plastic in some cases, like skincare and beauty products, make sure you are buying your products from a company which you know does not use plastics with BPA. And then definitely eliminate plastic in areas that you can control, like your food storage containers and drinkware, especially if you are working to switch to safer home products.
If you are interested in checking out a company which strives to avoid using harmful plastics as their skincare and makeup packaging, and has even started to transition to GLASS packaging, please contact me here!
Glass, on the flip side, never leaches toxins, and bonus – it is endlessly recyclable!! So if you are an environmental enthusiast like me, then you will love the fact that you can decrease your impact on the environment by using glass over plastic (which is likely to end up in the ocean).
And if your glass does break, then you can easily recycle it!
#2 – It’s made from Oil
When I first started the project that I was working on at my previous company, I had conducted some consumer research. I won’t bore you with the details, but let’s just say it was definitely enlightening to see how little people know about plastic.
One night I came home from a consumer research day and I asked my husband if he had was aware of how dangerous to our health plastic was. His response was:
“I feel like this is a trick question……….well, of course it’s not good for us. It’s made from oil.”
After having a chuckle at him thinking I was trying to trick him into answering a certain way, I told him that he made an excellent point!
PLASTIC IS MADE FROM OIL!! And while the majority of us likely know this, we don’t consciously think about it…….at least I never really did. And yet I absolutely knew this was a fact.
But really think about it. Would you want to eat out of, drink out of, or use products out of something that was seeping with oil? Would you knowingly drink oil? And when I say oil I mean crude oil……..like the kind that is converted into gasoline. And you wouldn’t want to drink gasoline would you?!
Ok, it my not be as simple as that, but at the end of the day, plastic is made from oil. And that’s definitely not something I want to ingest. Yuck!
Glass, on the other hand, is NOT made from oil, does not stain, and is easy to get clean. Glass is DEFINITELY a safer home product than plastic!
#3 – Plastic Does Not Keep Food Fresh Like Glass Does
Not only does plastic not keep food as fresh (trust me on this……it was another piece of research we did at my former company), but it also absorbs odor and color.
It also does NOT hold odor in. So if you’re an onion lover like me, next time store that chopped onion in a covered glass container……..though you may need to use a plastic lid to seal it. 🙁 But even with this factor, the glass itself, along with a good sealing lid, will keep your fridge free of odor.
And if you really want to avoid using plastic, then opt for a container with a silicone lid, or grab some silicone covers like the ones here. Using silicone based products are a great way to convert to using safer home products.
The biggest thing —-> don’t buy into the marketing hype that plastic keeps foods fresher, longer. Because that is often not the case. Glass wins hands down in this area in my household for sure!
There’s many other reasons that I recommend to use glass over plastic, but the bottom line is that it really is healthier. Of course I am happy to give you more info on why and likely will in another blog post. 😉
Since we can’t control everything that we consume from plastic, like skincare and cosmetics, it’s even more important that we do control what we CAN.
And for those items that you are forced to consume out of plastic, just be sure the container itself is as safe as it can be……..well safe for a plastic container at least.
If you’d like a recommendation on what skincare and makeup products are packaged in safe plastic containers and GLASS, please contact me here!
And don’t forget to pick up my FREE guide, My 5 Must-Have Smartphone Apps Every GOOD Mom Should Have to Keep Your Family Safe and Healthy!
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I hope you have found value in this list and that it will help you in your search for safe home products!
If you have found value, please share by clicking on the icons below this article! I’d love to share this information with your friends and loved ones!
Until next time…………..
Here’s to achieving true wellness!
*Legal Disclaimer – All information provided above is for educational purposes only. Information should not be construed as medical or legal advice in any capacity and is not intended to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure disease.