September 2010

BPA: Toxic Receipts

The SF Gate is reporting that the National Institutes for Health are recommending that we follow rat studies regarding the toxicity of BPA.  Bisphenol-A is found in plastics, including water bottles, receipts, Tupperware-style food containers, and as a lining in cans. 

Previously the plastics industry has argued that rat studies should be ignored, because rats aren't people.  An understandable argument, if a suspicious one, coming from the plastics industry!

Amazon Innovates Non-Evil Packaging

Plastic clamshell cases: You know them; you hate them.  They are impossible to open without at the very least a pair of scissors.  The last time I was presented with one, I gave up trying to cut it with scissors, and resorted to using a serrated bread knife to slice off the top.

Those big showy cases have two purposes: they show off the goods, and they help prevent sneaky shoplifters from stealing the item out of the package and returning it to the shelf.  

(Or so we are told, anyway.  Does this really work?  I remember when CDs started coming in giant cardboard boxes back in the late 1980s.  We were told it was to prevent theft. But people just folded the big boxes in half and stuck the whole thing down their pants.  

Apply for the Plastics are Forever International Youth Summit

The scary thing about plastics is that they are, indeed, forever. Long after we are dead and gone, our filthy plastic crap—from bottles to bags, food packaging to the bubbles our kids’ toys come in—will still be littering the Earth, floating in the ocean, and killing wildlife. It’s a sick and sad thought, but it’s definitely not news—so why do we keep making unnecessary plastics when there are so many viable alternatives that will break down over time?