Use second-hand tableclothes or fabric to replace those plastic, throw-away ones from the supermarket. Use stainless steel water bottles, sandwich carriers and fabric napkins. Even if you recycle plastic bottles and aluminum cans, it still makes sense to reuse items instead of recycling them.

Question: I have recently been told that water bottles and other types of plastic containers release toxic chemicals when heated. I am leaving on a six-week camping trip and will be taking my needed supplies, including water, in plastic containers.

Do I need to worry about them becoming heated in my car? Will the plastic release toxins into my food and water? If so, is there a safe alternative to metal or glass?

Answer: Bisphenol A (BPA) used to be a common ingredient in hard plastic (polycarbonate) water bottles. But controversy about this chemical as a hormone disruptor has led many manufacturers to reformulate their containers. For example, Nalgene now makes a BPA-free line of water bottles.

Some kinds of soft plastic may release phthalates if exposed to heat. These plasticizers and other chemicals such as PET have recently been shown to have estrogenic activity when leached into water (Environmental Science and Pollution Research International, May 2009).

Your short-term exposure probably won’t pose a great risk. To be completely safe, though, consider stainless-steel containers

It is not only gasoline for your car that makes us highly dependent on foreign oil, it’s all those plastic bags!

Here is some information from the Miami Herald:

1. Plastic bags are a petroleum product and a waste of a non-renewable resource. Americans use 100 billion bags a year, requiring 12 million barrels of oil.

2. They don’t biodegrade. They photodegrade, becoming bits of plastic dust, a contaminant, and even that takes many, many decades.

3. They are rarely recycled (only about 1 percent) and become litter pollution. They sully streams and clog roadside drains. Plastic bags are a top debris item encountered during coastal cleanups.

4. They endanger wildlife, particularly sea life. Animals become entangled in them, get suffocated by them or ingest them. Every square kilometer in the ocean contains an estimated 18,000 pieces of plastic.

Those are very good reasons to reuse your plastic bags and better yet bring your bags to the store. Instead of sandwich baggies use reusable sandwich wraps.

Klean kanteen stainless steel sippy

Back in stock!


Holds 12 oz of child’s favorite beverage in toxin free stainless steel. Ergonomic design makes it easy to hold by small hands.


Buy it here.