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(HealthNewsDigest.com) – I believe in recycling, reducing our food waste and lowering our garbage burden. My children will attest to the fact that I was saving the planet long before it was in vogue. They grew up using waxed paper, not plastic wrap and storing leftovers in glass bowls not plastic containers among just a few of their dietitian mom’s idiosyncrasies. That being said our current war-on-plastic in many cases may be more a knee-jerk reaction than sound policy.
Nothing spurred the emotional reaction against plastic straws more than the 2015 photo of a sea turtle with a plastic straw stuck in its nose. Paper straws became options even when they unraveled or collapsed in liquid as cities and restaurant chains stopped using plastic straws. Though 8 million tons of plastic does flow into the oceans every year, straws make up only 1% of that total. All the effort to replace plastic straws and develop usable paper options might be better spent on larger environmental issues. But the plastic straw has become a siren song for activists and food companies and restaurants have no choice but to comply with the need for a substitute.
Americans drink close to 42 gallons of water per person each year from single use plastic bottles. The problem is that only 30% of these bottles are recycled and it takes three times the amount of water to make a plastic bottle than the water they hold. We are producing a recycled item while wasting another precious commodity – water. Beverage companies are struggling to find alternatives. Drink boxes or Tetra Paks are a possibility and are popping up in brands of single-use water. The problem is the Tetra Pak, though an ingenious industrial design, is made out of multilayers of polymers, paperboard, and aluminum. Though all these elements are recyclable, not all of them are biodegradable.
To become more environmentally correct and to avoid compounds used in microwave popcorn, consumers began to pop corn in brown bags. Diacetyl, a flavoring agent once used in foods like popcorn, was discontinued in 2007. PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) an accidental by-product found in food packaging, was removed by the FDA in 2016. Concerns about PFOA motivated many to switch to brown bags as the alternative to microwave popcorn. While brown bags are safe for their intended non-heat use, they contain more volatile compounds than commercial microwave popcorn bags and these compounds are released when brown bags are heated.
To move away from foam or plastic bowls a number of restaurant chains switched to molded fiber bowls. The chains advertised these bowls as environmentally friendly and 100% compostable. The fiber bowls were a feel-good option that carried a health halo, suggested less waste, and made the customer feel virtuous for their choice. That was until a study found that molded fiber bowls contain PFAS (pre- and polyflouroalkyl substances) that don’t degrade in the environment. Plus, these chemicals have been linked to a number of diseases including cancer. Now it needs to be made clear that the FDA does allow a certain amount of PFAS in food containers and the result of the assays of the food containers from restaurant only noted the presence of the chemicals not the correlation to a health risk. But, if these molded fiber bowls become more widely used, is it possible that human exposure could reach a point where caution is needed? An open question at this time but one that needs further investigation.
Trader Joe’s has recently stopped offering single-use plastic bags and other supermarket chains may not be far behind. In many countries of the world you bring your own bag or pay a price for a single-use bag.
Substitutes for plastic cost time and money to develop. Moving to reusable containers is desirable but also the least convenient for companies and consumers. Recycling, to adapt a material to a new use, is the most popular green option. But like with the water cost to make new plastic bottles, recycling must consider the energy and resources used to make the recycling loop work efficiently and be cost effective. Composability and biodegradability are the goal – breaking down the components to return to the earth as humus. Unfortunately, many compostable items require a lot of time, light and moisture which are not always available in garbage disposable systems. When items, like plastic, biodegrade they may not be absorbed into the earth or waterways because they were not biological to begin with. With plastic, we are left with fine particles that become major pollutants in the oceans and on land.
There is no easy solution to reduce the environmental footprint of plastic and we need to consider that any law, regulation or practice put in place may have unintended consequences unless done with careful consideration and verifiable facts.
© NH Nutrition Consultants, Inc.
Jo-Ann Heslin, MA, RD, CDN is a registered dietitian and the author of 30 books.
Available as eBooks from iTunes and Kindle/Amazon:
Diabetes Counter – the most up-to-date information on managing diabetes
Calorie Counter – a weight loss guide that won’t let you down
Protein Counter – put the latest protein recommendations to work for you
Healthy Wholefoods Counter – planet-friendly eating made easy
Complete Food Counter – food counts and nutrition information at your fingertips
Fat and Cholesterol Counter – newest approach to heart-healthy eating
Available in print from Gallery Books:
Most Complete Food Counter, 3rd Ed.
For more information on Jo-Ann and her books, go to: www.TheNutritionExperts.com