My grandma (who’s a 96yo healthy and strong individual) still uses pottery for almost all daily drinks/foods and was advising me to do so, guess that’s the secret.
I dimly recall reading about single used clay-based cups. Lowest tech FTW.
Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
81–90 of 91 posts
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#82This was a strange read. "Just as toxic" reads, obviously, as "as bad as", with the implication that paper is as bad as plastic. But the article ignores paper entirely and focuses on the use of PLA liners in (some) paper cups and lids. So, already there is obviously far less potentially toxic material and so already the title is untrue. Then the article states that there are "as many chemicals" in PLA as regular plas…
Strange I had to scroll this far down to read what seems obvious on face if it.
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
That wasn't really their point. Their point was that paper containers are toxic, but it's a lie by omission to call them just paper containers. If they had just written a good faith article pointing out that paper containers typically also contain PLA and this is known to be toxic in the environment, all would be well. "PLA lined paper containers are toxic in the environment" would be a fair title. This might seem pe…
Cups that are 100% paper don't exist, because you can't hold the liquids people drink in paper. Everyone calls "paper cups lined with some material" just "paper cups".
As I kid I remember folding paper cups for water. They didn't last long, but they worked.
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#84Earlier quoted context omitted.
Glass is awesome. It's reusable many times over and recyclable after that. We used to have systems to allow that reuse (bottle return) before somehow we ended up throwing away a plastic bottle (recycled at best) every time we buy a pint of milk. And contrary to sibling comment, glass containers don't leach heavy metals (or anything else) into food.
To "recycle" glass, all you have to do is wash it.
That's what the grandparent sensibly referred to as reuse; you can do that, but you after you're done reusing it, you can also recycle it, that is, melt it down and make new glass from it.
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#85Oh, yeah, that's no secret. Anything that touches food is lined to within an inch of its life with plastic. There's no escaping that. Every soda can you drink, most of your reusable water bottles, all that supposedly eco-friendly packaging is loaded with plastic. And they can BPA-free you all they want, but they just keep shifting to newer, less tested substances that don't have a bad reputation yet.
I guess they could coat them in something else, like beeswax.
My wife cut up a lot of cloth sheets... linens, I think... and bathed them in a boiling mix of beeswax and a couple other waxes and oils. (I believe leather was treated similarly to build ancient armor.)
Messy process, but once they dried, they actually functioned pretty well as a reusable wrap and cover. Stiff enough to hold their shape, self-adherent, it can be used like cling wrap or aluminum foil, and could be cleaned and reused dozens of times.
Not sure if it is a net positive or negative for the environment, but it's at least practical.
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#86Oh, yeah, that's no secret. Anything that touches food is lined to within an inch of its life with plastic. There's no escaping that. Every soda can you drink, most of your reusable water bottles, all that supposedly eco-friendly packaging is loaded with plastic. And they can BPA-free you all they want, but they just keep shifting to newer, less tested substances that don't have a bad reputation yet.
I guess they could coat them in something else, like beeswax.
> > Anything that touches food is lined to within an inch of its life with plastic.
> I guess they could coat them in something else, like beeswax
Beeswax is a plastic, just not a petrochemical-derived plastic.
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#87My grandma (who’s a 96yo healthy and strong individual) still uses pottery for almost all daily drinks/foods and was advising me to do so, guess that’s the secret.
And the water pipes that run to most peoples taps are made of… Plastic!
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#88My grandma (who’s a 96yo healthy and strong individual) still uses pottery for almost all daily drinks/foods and was advising me to do so, guess that’s the secret.
And the water pipes that run to most peoples taps are made of… Plastic!
In the case of my grandma, she actually lives in a farm, she gets the water from a well in there (yes, the type of well with bailer bucket!), but probably for everyone else including myself, yes, that water is going through all that plastic pipes including all these forever chemicals and what not.
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue is that while you can drink out of glassware or ceramics (I enjoy those for my coffee and tea), basically everything is carted around in plastic. If you want to buy water when you're out and about and want it in a glass bottle, your only choices are the "premium" brands that cost an arm and a leg. And, more generally, it's pretty darn hard to avoid plastics when buying food. When I was a kid, when my parent…
> Nowadays, that "paper" seems to be able to withstand whatever you throw at it. I'd say it's silicone impregnated paper like parchment paper or probably is parchment paper which is paper coated with silicone.
Parchment paper is typically full of PFAS.
way worse than PLA.
Re: Paper cups are just as toxic as plastic cups
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess they could coat them in something else, like beeswax.
> > Anything that touches food is lined to within an inch of its life with plastic. > I guess they could coat them in something else, like beeswax Beeswax is a plastic, just not a petrochemical-derived plastic.
I mean, it's a polymer all right, so is starch, but the point is to use something watertight but still biodegradable. Other petroleum derivatives could be used as well, but I tend to think of beeswax as proven to be food-compatible, though I am not sure if this was rigorously tested.
I thought answers to my comment would rather focus on the low melting point, making it hard to use for hot beverages (though 60°C is high enough for drinks).
You are right of course, but the article mentioned PLA, IIRC? Reading more on this topic, it seems that PLA is biodegradable, but only in industrial, high temperature composters?