GET RID OF PLASTICS RIGHT NOW
William Harriss
Entrepeneur, Inventor and Innovationist, Journalist, Writer, Author, Professional Company Director, Small Resort Owner, Hotel Hygiene and Sterilization Specialist.
By William H Harriss. 7/9/2024. [email protected]
Everyone in the restaurant, hotel industry, furniture and mattress industry is aware of or should be aware of this if they are sufficiently switched on to current news. That plastic is killing the world; this petroleum-based material made from crude oil derivatives is now being recognized as a death curse on all living things, including the human race.
Last year, 359 million tons of plastic entered markets around the world. Packaging accounts for about 35 to 45 per cent of the total plastics output. When disposed of, plastic takes centuries to degrade, and in the meantime, thanks to wind and rain, it sheds tiny particles that enter the food chain and the human body. Canals, rivers, seas, and oceans are being overrun with plastic-based rubbish that affects the water we drink and the fish we eat.
Plastic is indigestible and impossible for the stomach to break down. Once in the body, the body cannot digest it; if you are fortunate enough to excrete it with other waste matter, you are fortunate. However, the greater problem is that the finer nanoplastics find their way into the body's organs, and from there, they become a forever compound that the body cannot dispose of or get rid of. It is now recognized that plastic causes cancer, dementia, heart attacks, and strokes. Bioaccumulation of plastics in the human body can potentially lead to a multi-range of health issues, including birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, plummeting sperm counts, respiratory disorders like lung cancer, asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis, neurological symptoms such as fatigue and dizziness and dementia, inflammatory bowel disease and disturbances in gut microbiota.
Plastics have been discovered in hearts and the arteries that feed blood to the heart. During a three-year study, people who had tiny plastic particles lodged in a key blood vessel were more likely to experience heart attack, stroke, or death.
Fish are being found with plastic in them and their organs. Farm livestock are also affected. Even fruits and vegetables are found to contain nanoparticles of plastic.
According to a 2019 Reuters infographic, humans ingest about five grams of plastic every week—a spoonful that weighs about as much as a bottle cap. Combined throughout the year, the amount of plastic we ingest amounts to a full dinner plate. In 10 years' time, we would have eaten five pounds of plastic and 44 pounds worth of plastic over the course of a lifetime.
Hotels, restaurants, and private home kitchens contaminate food with nano and microplastics. Plastic cutting boards and plastic cleaning sponges are both dangerous to use. The boards, due to their depositing plastics into and onto food, cut or prepared on them, and the sponges, due to nano plastic moult during use.
In today's world, where environmental concerns are paramount, the quest for sustainable solutions has led to a significant shift in how we approach packaging. This shift encompasses a range of innovative alternatives to plastic packaging.
Plastics are just about everywhere — food packaging, milk and water bottles, car tyres [tires], foam plastic mattresses and other bedding, furniture, clothes, and water pipes. They all shed microscopic particles that end up in the environment and can be ingested or inhaled by people. Every plastic receptacle made has an amount of nano and microplastic residue in it when manufactured, and when used for a product, that residue mixes with the product and is then ingested by the unsuspecting consumer.
We absolutely must stop using plastic in kitchens, bedding, and furnishings, in both private and commercial settings. Mattresses should return to the highly efficient spring system and stop using foam, even in the smallest amounts.
It must start to happen right now, not next year or sometime down the road. We must all start right now; tomorrow is too late.
Plastic bottles should be banned and replaced with glass bottles, plastic storage containers should be replaced with stainless steel—glass and ceramic, and melamine and plastic cutting boards should be replaced with wooden boards.
领英推荐
Tell your suppliers that they must start using non-plastic packaging and wrappings. Give them six months to comply. There are many alternatives to plastic packaging, and now is the time to investigate and adopt suitable alternatives.
Are sustainable packaging options as durable as plastic? Yes, many sustainable options are designed to be as durable as plastic.
Can sustainable packaging options replace all plastic packaging? While they can replace many plastic items, some specialized uses might still require plastic, but ongoing innovations are expanding alternatives.
Melamine and plastic cutting boards are probably among the greatest contaminators in the kitchen. According to a study by the American Chemical Society (ACS), chopping boards alone expose humans to up to 79.4 million polypropylene microplastics—a type of plastic polymer—each year.
This means that using a plastic chopping board undoubtedly increases the transfer of nanoplastics and microplastics to food.
Remember, most wood is biologically handleable by the body, and some creatures even eat and thrive on it. Plastic is not, and it has negative medical consequences for the consumer.
After my last article on the subject, several Chefs, Restaurateurs, and Catering Managers asked me where to find the best wooden cutting boards and blocks. I have been looking at wooden cutting boards, and it seems that a British company is among the world leaders in the UK and Europe.
The best woods for cutting boards are Maple, Teak, Walnut, Cherry, and Beech. Stick only to these woods, and you will not have blunt knives or add toxic leach to your recipes.
Wood cutting boards should be made from close-grained hardwoods that are resilient to moisture, wear and tear, and bacterial growth. Softwoods or woods with leachable toxins should not be used for cutting boards. Avoid really hard hardwoods; they will blunt and damage your knives.
The nature of a cutting board requires the wood to withstand abuse from knives, meat tenderizers, and other kitchen tools. A softwood like pine is not ideal for such abuse and is a definite no-no [its toxicity makes it even more no-no-no]. However, harder woods like walnut and cherry are great options. The ideal range for cutting board hardness is between 850 lbs [386kg] and 1,600 lbs [726kg] on the Janka scale.
I am currently studying suppliers from the UK, EUROPE, the Middle East, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. When I have decided who has the best products, I will add them to this article. Be patient; I am working on it.
Beware the snake oil salesmen who will sell you anything; there are a lot of them out there.
Entrepeneur, Inventor and Innovationist, Journalist, Writer, Author, Professional Company Director, Small Resort Owner, Hotel Hygiene and Sterilization Specialist.
8 个月I decided to write you a poem on the subject. The Plastic Symphony Amidst nature’s symphony, a discordant sound, Plastic’s crescendo, the world unbound. A cacophony of waste, once pristine, Now choking rivers, a toxic routine. Plastic bags flutter like ghostly notes, Entangling life, as the melody floats. Seabirds sing sorrow, their wings encased, In synthetic harmonies, a tragic embrace. Landfills hum with discarded refrain, A symphony of disposables, our careless stain. Oceans weep silently, their depths defiled, By plastic scores, relentless and wild. Yet hope lingers, like a distant refrain, In eco-conscious hearts, a counterstrain. We’ll rewrite the score, reduce our waste, Harmonize with nature, in rhythms embraced. So let us play our part, in this urgent fight, Compose a greener world, where plastic takes flight. For the Earth’s symphony awaits our call, To heal its wounds, and harmonize once more.