Thank you for all your excellent research/detective work finding all these alternatives and providing all the links. This post surely took some time and effort!
It is disheartening, though, the reality that no matter how much we try to, let’s say, replace all the things, like you said, there’s still all the things ‘out there’s that we can’t control. And as for the dosing, I’d figure at 58, my body is replete with microplastics and no swap over to loose tea or otherwise will turn the tide on whatever’s already at play in me. Then I think of my 22 year old and can see in my mind the many meals he ate on IKEA plastic dishes or juices he drank from plastic bottles or every plastic toothbrush he’s stuck into his mouth…
It seems it always comes down to the individual to discover and try to protect themselves. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if industry and government had listened to the scientists over the years and protected all of us, not just the ones who did their own research and had the money to do what little they can about it. It’s like we’re all really just doomed becuz it is bigger than all of us.
Have we forgotten TUPPERWARE? Mom's put that crap in the microwave, freezer, fridge until one had to PLEADE to replace the greasy red sauce stained containers...
Mamma, at 70 we are all just as loaded up as the next person....
Margarine is like 1 degrees over from plastic...
How much GIANT COUNTRY CROCK Tubs have we all used and stored our home cooked soups and such in, placed in the microwave to reheat and removed the bendy Tub ?! 🤣😵💫🤣
Ps. I recommend loose leaf tea from the Good Store (good.store). They have sample packets which make it easy to try a few. It’s truly the best tea I’ve ever tasted.
Just go ahead and throw the bamboo cutting boards in the dishwasher. Will they split eventually? Yes. But they last close to a year for me and at $15 a set…
I’ve just recently tried Attitude, a Canadian company, for a majority of personal care needs. I like their solid face cleanser and unscented deodorant (both come in cardboard containers!) They also have some refillable options that I haven’t tried yet.
I’m an elder millennial. I find myself contemplating buying a microplastic water filter to protect my kid, while remembering drinking water from the plastic hose during my own childhood summers. Anyone else remember that first warm drink if you didn’t let the water run enough? I might be half plastic molecules 😬🤣
Have you tried Bite toothpaste? It comes with a glass bottle on the first order as they are tablets, and then you buy refills in paper packaging - no plastic. It took a while to get used to it, and I have to say if I am traveling I sometimes use what folks have as I like a good lather and the Bites don't! The only issue I have with them, is that the bottle they send isn't quite large enough to contain the full refill packet! A minor flaw we deal with!
I have been thinking about filtered water so thank you for sharing this!
I have been waiting on the glass Aeropress since it was teased awhile back; thanks for the tip! 🤩 Though luckily there are plenty of great (and less expensive) existing pour-over coffee brewers that use minimal or no plastic, especially from the likes of Hario 🤓☕️
Just to note, there are plenty of tea companies that use compostable tea bags, which by definition will not contain plastic, for those times when you just don’t have the time/energy/ability to fiddle with loose leaf tea! Equal Exchange and Traditional Medicinals are two personal favorites. 🍵♻️🌱
A question: Should we be concerned that the some of these microplastic filters and pitchers are themselves made out of plastic?
Thanks for these great tips, Angela! Sadly, even compostable/silk/paper teabags use a polyethylene sealant to stop the tea from falling out of the bags.
It is concerning that there are plastic parts in most of the microplastic filters! The Boroux and Walter use minimal plastic, as it's a charcoal filter and gravity system.
That is so disheartening re: tea bag sealant, but thanks for sharing that information. I did look into Traditional Medicinal’s tea bag materials, and they say that their bags are not heat sealed, which I take to mean does not use sealant, but I could be mistaken. I wish making healthy and planet-friendly choices didn’t require consumers to be detectives 😮💨
My favorite skincare company that I’ve exclusively bought my facial products
and deodorant from for a decade and has a commitment to using as minimal plastic as possible and reducing waste (they offer refills and take back empties) is Meow Meow Tweet. I love that they also offer customer education on topics like greenwashing!
Just to note, while Dr. Tung’s uses plastic-free packaging, their floss is still made out of plastic. I’ve recently started using ME Mother Earth’s bamboo charcoal floss and absolutely love it; it actually seems too good to be true that it’s fully compostable! They offer various plastic-free floss containers that can be refilled, too. 🤓🦷
Very interested in this bamboo floss! Back in 2017, Dr Tung's posted this: "The so-called ‘bamboo floss’ sold on the market is actually polyester infused with bamboo fibers, because bamboo alone is not strong enough. Most resellers are not aware of this but any testing lab can show this." But do we think that is outdated now? Or does the charcoal make it stronger??
The last thing I needed to do was get away from the coffee maker. I couldn’t stand the chemical taste that would inevitably start to seep in the coffee. I wasn’t connecting the dots as to what was causing it. I just bought my French press yesterday.
Hurray! I love the French press when people are over, it feels fancy and intentional even though it’s actually the cheapest option. And no filters needed!
As one researcher in the article states…the microplastics from cutting boards are like “bolders”, they just go through your GI system.
This was helpful to me. I think the leachers are a really big issue and otherwise microplastics are seemingly completely unavoidable, since they rain from the sky and thus are absolutely everywhere around us and in what we eat. A whole new reason to not eat snow here in Canada…
I think the best thing we can do as citizens is write to our politicians and demand changes to plastics utilization among not purchasing plastics where we can avoid them. As the article points out, you can make small adjustments, but the issue is way beyond what any one person can do. If microplastics are accumulating in our body, creating chronic inflammation and subsequent health problems, which will tax our healthcare system among other systems. Surely reassessing plastics usage is a good investment of time and resources.
Since realizing I have a severe reactivity to PEG- polyethylene glycol and realizing it is a microplastic in lots of cosmetic and body products and oral meds and not several of the covid vaccines and the closely related polysorbate which is in lots of foods. I have rarely found peg in food- but I just saw it was in a certain brand of tortillas!. However polysorbate is in lots of foods, I would love some group advocacy around these products!!
Thank you for all your excellent research/detective work finding all these alternatives and providing all the links. This post surely took some time and effort!
It is disheartening, though, the reality that no matter how much we try to, let’s say, replace all the things, like you said, there’s still all the things ‘out there’s that we can’t control. And as for the dosing, I’d figure at 58, my body is replete with microplastics and no swap over to loose tea or otherwise will turn the tide on whatever’s already at play in me. Then I think of my 22 year old and can see in my mind the many meals he ate on IKEA plastic dishes or juices he drank from plastic bottles or every plastic toothbrush he’s stuck into his mouth…
It seems it always comes down to the individual to discover and try to protect themselves. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if industry and government had listened to the scientists over the years and protected all of us, not just the ones who did their own research and had the money to do what little they can about it. It’s like we’re all really just doomed becuz it is bigger than all of us.
1960's ...
"plastic's M'Boy....Plastics...."
Have we forgotten TUPPERWARE? Mom's put that crap in the microwave, freezer, fridge until one had to PLEADE to replace the greasy red sauce stained containers...
Mamma, at 70 we are all just as loaded up as the next person....
Margarine is like 1 degrees over from plastic...
How much GIANT COUNTRY CROCK Tubs have we all used and stored our home cooked soups and such in, placed in the microwave to reheat and removed the bendy Tub ?! 🤣😵💫🤣
Thank you for these!
Ps. I recommend loose leaf tea from the Good Store (good.store). They have sample packets which make it easy to try a few. It’s truly the best tea I’ve ever tasted.
Sample packets are exactly what I need! Thanks for the rec.
Just go ahead and throw the bamboo cutting boards in the dishwasher. Will they split eventually? Yes. But they last close to a year for me and at $15 a set…
I’ve just recently tried Attitude, a Canadian company, for a majority of personal care needs. I like their solid face cleanser and unscented deodorant (both come in cardboard containers!) They also have some refillable options that I haven’t tried yet.
I’m an elder millennial. I find myself contemplating buying a microplastic water filter to protect my kid, while remembering drinking water from the plastic hose during my own childhood summers. Anyone else remember that first warm drink if you didn’t let the water run enough? I might be half plastic molecules 😬🤣
Have you tried Bite toothpaste? It comes with a glass bottle on the first order as they are tablets, and then you buy refills in paper packaging - no plastic. It took a while to get used to it, and I have to say if I am traveling I sometimes use what folks have as I like a good lather and the Bites don't! The only issue I have with them, is that the bottle they send isn't quite large enough to contain the full refill packet! A minor flaw we deal with!
I have been thinking about filtered water so thank you for sharing this!
I haven't, but it was also recommended by another reader! I'm a little scared of learning something new but now encouraged to try it.
Huppy toothpaste tabs are an awesome alternative to traditional toothpaste! My teeth feel way cleaner too.
I have been waiting on the glass Aeropress since it was teased awhile back; thanks for the tip! 🤩 Though luckily there are plenty of great (and less expensive) existing pour-over coffee brewers that use minimal or no plastic, especially from the likes of Hario 🤓☕️
Just to note, there are plenty of tea companies that use compostable tea bags, which by definition will not contain plastic, for those times when you just don’t have the time/energy/ability to fiddle with loose leaf tea! Equal Exchange and Traditional Medicinals are two personal favorites. 🍵♻️🌱
A question: Should we be concerned that the some of these microplastic filters and pitchers are themselves made out of plastic?
Thanks for these great tips, Angela! Sadly, even compostable/silk/paper teabags use a polyethylene sealant to stop the tea from falling out of the bags.
It is concerning that there are plastic parts in most of the microplastic filters! The Boroux and Walter use minimal plastic, as it's a charcoal filter and gravity system.
That is so disheartening re: tea bag sealant, but thanks for sharing that information. I did look into Traditional Medicinal’s tea bag materials, and they say that their bags are not heat sealed, which I take to mean does not use sealant, but I could be mistaken. I wish making healthy and planet-friendly choices didn’t require consumers to be detectives 😮💨
My favorite skincare company that I’ve exclusively bought my facial products
and deodorant from for a decade and has a commitment to using as minimal plastic as possible and reducing waste (they offer refills and take back empties) is Meow Meow Tweet. I love that they also offer customer education on topics like greenwashing!
Just to note, while Dr. Tung’s uses plastic-free packaging, their floss is still made out of plastic. I’ve recently started using ME Mother Earth’s bamboo charcoal floss and absolutely love it; it actually seems too good to be true that it’s fully compostable! They offer various plastic-free floss containers that can be refilled, too. 🤓🦷
Wow! I'm going to have to check out this charcoal floss!
Very interested in this bamboo floss! Back in 2017, Dr Tung's posted this: "The so-called ‘bamboo floss’ sold on the market is actually polyester infused with bamboo fibers, because bamboo alone is not strong enough. Most resellers are not aware of this but any testing lab can show this." But do we think that is outdated now? Or does the charcoal make it stronger??
i love buying with green heffa farms for loose leaf tea, a b corp and black woman owned company out of North Carolina!
The last thing I needed to do was get away from the coffee maker. I couldn’t stand the chemical taste that would inevitably start to seep in the coffee. I wasn’t connecting the dots as to what was causing it. I just bought my French press yesterday.
Hurray! I love the French press when people are over, it feels fancy and intentional even though it’s actually the cheapest option. And no filters needed!
There’s a really great NYT article. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/what-are-microplastics-harmful-to-humans-how-to-avoid.html?ueid=82901fe231806646bee6d0e889a9be94&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=OGS%20-%20February%2025%2C%202025&utm_term=Subscription%20List%20-%20One%20Great%20Story
If you can find a way to read it, I would.
As one researcher in the article states…the microplastics from cutting boards are like “bolders”, they just go through your GI system.
This was helpful to me. I think the leachers are a really big issue and otherwise microplastics are seemingly completely unavoidable, since they rain from the sky and thus are absolutely everywhere around us and in what we eat. A whole new reason to not eat snow here in Canada…
I think the best thing we can do as citizens is write to our politicians and demand changes to plastics utilization among not purchasing plastics where we can avoid them. As the article points out, you can make small adjustments, but the issue is way beyond what any one person can do. If microplastics are accumulating in our body, creating chronic inflammation and subsequent health problems, which will tax our healthcare system among other systems. Surely reassessing plastics usage is a good investment of time and resources.
Since realizing I have a severe reactivity to PEG- polyethylene glycol and realizing it is a microplastic in lots of cosmetic and body products and oral meds and not several of the covid vaccines and the closely related polysorbate which is in lots of foods. I have rarely found peg in food- but I just saw it was in a certain brand of tortillas!. However polysorbate is in lots of foods, I would love some group advocacy around these products!!
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate that you’re being so thoughtful about your approach!
WALTER FOREVERRRR
What happens if you don't wash him for a week?
yeah good point... weird build up
Very helpful! Thank you
I buy most of my tea from Teadog.com. They have a big selection of teas with several being loose leaf.
Favorite flavors you recommend?
My favorite is Irish Breakfast but they have English tea, Assam, Darjeeling, Rooibos, Lapsang Souchong and many more. Assam is my second favorite.