How I Started Replacing the Plastics in My Kitchen, Food and Drink, and What I’m Using Now

Here's How I Started Reducing Plastics in My Kitchen and Food and Drink Streams

Recently I have started an effort to reduce plastics, and in particular microplastics, in my life. The obvious and most pressing place to start was in my kitchen, as it is through food and drink that microplastics end up in our bodies. Here is how I removed plastic entirely from the first area on which I focussed my attention: my water bottles, my electric kettle, and my coffee travel mug.

Note that the links below are NOT affiliate links. If you have found this helpful please consider putting something in my tip jar, but I am not going to diminish the integrity of my recommendations by trying to monetize them.

What the NIH Says About Microplastics

(Feel free to skip this section if you already know.)

The National Institute of Health explains that “Microplastics are synthetic, high-molecular weight compounds that have been micronized into plastic particles smaller than 5 mm in size. Such materials have a low biodegradation rate and, thus, mostly remain in the environment and adversely affect the human body, the final consumer in the food chain,” and “Previous estimates indicated that humans are exposed to between tens of thousands and millions of microplastics each year, or several milligrams per day. The main exposure route could be the inhalation of indoor air and drinking water in plastic bottles. Exposure to microplastics through food intake is likely the main exposure source, although it remains difficult to provide a detailed estimate due to the lack of research on the contents and internal doses of microplastics in different foods.” And, finally, “Plastic, which has become inseparable from human life, has given various benefits to mankind, but is naturally or artificially divided into various sizes and affecting the natural ecosystem. When the size of the plastic becomes smaller and microplastics are formed, they can be absorbed, ingested, or inhaled into the human body through the skin, gastrointestinal system, or lungs. These microplastics can physically block the digestive system, stimulate the mucous membrane, and injure it. Also, when the size of microplastics becomes smaller than 1 micrometer to form nanoplastics, which are ultrafine plastics, they can pass through the primary tissue barrier in the body and penetrate the capillary blood vessel through the blood stream, which can be dispersed throughout the body. In addition, ultrafine plastics have hydrophobic properties that do not dissolve in water and can be dispersed, resulting in various properties.”

What I Have Done so Far to Get Plastics Out of My Kitchen and Food and Drink Stream

When I started thinking about this I came to the stunning realization that it’s likely that the greatest daily source of microplastics in my kitchen was my water and coffee intake.

Water Bottles

For a very long time I have filled two or three quart-sized plastic water bottles and placed them, pre-filled, in my kitchen, where they would prompt me to drink them throughout the day, thus making sure that my water intake was adequate. That is two to three quarts of water every day that are stored in and drank out of plastic bottles. While they are BPA-free, to me that was no longer adequate.

In addition, I have a couple of Camelbak water bottles that I use when working out. Also, of course, plastic. I work out 5x a week, so, again, a lot of water sitting in and sipped from plastic.

What I Did About Water Bottles

Plastic-Free Sports Water Bottles

You will be hard-pressed to find all-glass, no plastic water bottles. You can find some that are all metal, although they have plastic lids (but just to cap them, you don’t drink through them). However! The good news is that there is one water bottle that is all glass, including the neck, with a silicone lid. They are made by BlenderBottle, they are 18-ounce, and they are awesome! The glass is thick, so less likely to break if you drop it (plus parts of it are encased in silicone), although of course being glass they could break if you abuse them.

all glass water bottle blenderbottle blender bottle

The bad news is that they don’t seem to be making them any longer. But the other good news is that BlenderBottle has made this bottle for someone else, Shakeology. So you can get the Shakeology-branded all-glass BlenderBottle from Amazon, at least as long as they last, here: https://www.amazon.com/shakeology-Reusable-Durable-Silicone-Drinking/dp/B0CJGBJSKW/

Plastic-Free Quart-size Water Bottles

I replaced the “in my face to remind me to drink enough water” plastic water bottles with plain old narrow-neck (known as “regular mouth”, as compared to “wide mouth”) Mason jars (i.e. canning jars), with colourful lids. They are great, and the narrower necks fit even my tiny hands. Don’t they look great? :~)

Here's How I Started Reducing Plastics in My Kitchen and Food and Drink Streams

Here’s the crazy thing: even though I was washing those water bottles every night, and they were very clean, the water in the glass bottles tastes so much better! It tastes, I don’t know – somehow cleaner, or purer! It’s much more quenching!

You can get regular-mouth quart size canning jars at most hardware or even grocery stores, or you can get them here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/LAIBY-Regular-Mouth-Canning-Silver/dp/B0C4LZV88Y/

You can get pint (16 oz) regular-mouth canning jars (in case you prefer a smaller size) here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ball-61000-Regular-16-Ounces-12-Units/dp/B07MZ97158/

Canning jars are cheap – about $1 a jar.

You can get the cute (all metal, with a silicone seal) lids here: https://www.amazon.com/Supplies-Standard-Airtight-Silicone-Chrismas/dp/B075JRW1QK/

Plastic-Free Electric Kettles

I have been using a BPA-free but fully-plastic electric kettle for years; in fact more years than I care to think about. And, of course, this may be one of the worst offenders, because that plastic is being exposed to both boiling water and boiling-hot steam every time you use it. So I was very excited to find the only electric kettle (at least on Amazon) that boldly declares “No Plastic Contact with Water!” and “ZERO CONTACT WITH PLASTIC!”! The problem is that they lie. In fact, as I wrote in my rather scathing review of the kettle, “There is plastic immediately over the spout, and the only way for there to be “no contact” is if you pour very carefully and at an odd angle. And even if you do that, your kettle has been subjecting that plastic to boiling-point steam, leaching the microplastics back into your water!”

So, of course, I returned the kettle and kept searching. And I finally found it – the holy grail of plastic-free electric kettles! It works very well, is (I think) cute, and has a cool thermometer built right into the side of the kettle so you can monitor how hot your water is, in case you are a tea aficianado or making something for children, and want the water to be a temperature below 212°. You can see it in the picture above, and you can read more about it and order it on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D8BKV3JL/

Plastic-Free Insulated Thermal Travel Cup

In my search and research I found exactly one – count ’em, one – insulated travel cup that had absolutely no plastic. I had previously loved my big stainless steel Yeti cup, but the lid (through which you sip your hot beverage) is plastic. So every sip of a hot beverage is flowing over plastic. Ick.

It took me a long time to find the one travel mug (well, tumbler) with no plastic. Fortunately, it’s awesome! It is triple-walled stainless steel (the outside comes in various patterns), with a ceramic lid! The lid has a silicone stopper to keep the liquid from splashing out, although I found that I needed to remove the stopper to make drinking through the lid comfortable, but that may just be me. If I ever needed to.. you know.. actually travel with it, I think I’d just order a second lid, keeping the stopper on one and the stopper off the other. (Note that the lid is very hard to get off and put back on the first few times, but eventually the silicone flange yields just a tiny bit, so that it’s much easier to put the lid on and off, while still sealing the tumbler.)

You can see the cup in the picture above, and here’s a picture of the lid sans silicone stopper:

travel tumbler with ceramic lid no plastic

You can check out this awesome no-plastic insulated travel tumbler here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07KY64FHK

Again, none of these links are affiliate links. :~)


In addition I have started trying hard to buy food that isn’t in plastic, but it’s difficult! The easiest thing with which to accomplish this is fresh produce, or shelf-stable goods in non-plastic bags.

And that’s what I’ve done so far to reduce plastics and microplastics, especially in my food and drink stream! Have you also been reducing and replacing plastics in your life? What have you done? Please share it with me in a comment, so we can all benefit from what each other is doing!

About those Weird Plastic Pieces from Inside the Front Door Panel of a Bosch Dishwasher

Earlier this year we had occasion to remove the front panel from the door of our Bosch dishwasher. The occasion was that it had developed a leak. Now fortunately, one of the most common reasons that a Bosch dishwasher will develop a leak – especially if it seems to be coming from under the door – is that the inlet water valve needs to be replaced. And also fortunately, it turns out that the water inlet valve is relatively easy to replace, once you take the door panel off. (In case you’re interested, this is the inlet water valve that we used to replace the leaking one – ain’t Amazon amazing?)

Well, as soon as that door panel came off of the front of that Bosch dishwasher, two weirdly-shaped plastic pieces literally fell out of the dishwasher, onto the floor (the floor of the kitchen, not the floor of the dishwasher). “Weird,” we thought, and set them aside, sure that it would be obvious where they went once we started putting the dishwasher back together.

Boy were we wrong.

What the hell was this thing?
About those Weird Plastic Pieces from Inside the Front Panel of a Bosch Dishwasher

At first we were misled by the apparent channels in the thing, which led us to think that it was some sort of harness for wiring. But, nope.

In fact, it took us quite a while to figure out what this thing was, but once we did, and once we actually figured out where it went, it was obvious. Dumb, but obvious. Of course it’s obvious once you know, so that is why I wrote this up for you, so you will know, without going through the frustration that we did.

 

It’s a door spacer for your Bosch dishwasher!

Well, actually, it was obvious where they went – whether they are a door spacer, or something to protect the inside of the door from damage, or both, still wasn’t 100% clear. We are choosing to call it a door spacer.

But once you know what they are, where they go, and how they go, is obvious. So if you have found pieces that look like the above, here is how they go back in.

Inserting the door spacer protector back into your dishwasher
putting plastic door spacer back bosch dishwasher inserting

Notice the single prong on the plastic door spacer; once you insert the plastic piece as in the above picture, it will seat into place with a satisfying click.

putting plastic door spacer back bosch dishwasher seated click

This is what it will look like from above, once it is clicked in and fully seated.

View from above
putting plastic door spacer back bosch dishwasher view from above

And that’s all there is to it. It probably took you way more time to discover what those silly plastic pieces are than it will to shove them back in!

By the way, in case you’re wondering, this is what the inlet water valve looks like:

Bosch Dishwasher Inlet Water Valve
bosch dishwasher inlet water inlet valve

And, again, you can find them on Amazon here (although be sure to check that it’s compatible with your model, this is the one that worked for our model). It costs all of $12.50.

Searches that led to this article: https://www mangemerde com/about-those-weird-plastic-pieces-from-inside-the-front-door-panel-of-a-bosch-dishwasher/,