Commentary, Opinion

Monthly Message: Greys for Green shares how to eat less plastic

November 6, 2025   ·   0 Comments

Our kitchen is full of microplastics that we eat, breathe, and drink every day. They are in our vegetables, meat, and tap water.  

Here’s the problem 
It is estimated that we ingest about five grams of microplastics per week, roughly equivalent to the mass of a credit card. We are becoming plastic people. 
Exposure to chemicals in plastic, like BPA, phthalates, and PFAS (forever chemicals), has been shown to increase the risk of everything from infertility, poorer fetal development, inflammation, and cancer. While science isn’t yet conclusive about all the impacts, we know the chemicals in microplastics are highly toxic and can’t be good for us. Scientists and physicians are deeply concerned.
If you look around your kitchen, you’ll see where microplastics enter our meals: they flake off the spatula you use to cook, they leach from the plastic water bottle in your child’s backpack, and they float in the cup of tea or coffee on your desk. They’re embedded in the foods we eat, from meat to cucumbers.

Five simple actions to avoid microplastics

1. Don’t heat food in plastic: Plastic sheds into food when it is heated in the microwave. Make your new mantra, ”Don’t drink from plastic. Don’t eat from plastic. Don’t prepare food in plastic. And don’t put plastic in the dishwasher.”
2. Store food in glass, ceramic, and metal food containers: Plastic containers shed microplastics into our food. Avoid throwing them into the landfill; instead, reuse them to store things like screws and paper clips. For food storage, opt for containers like glass jars where you can readily see the contents. Use metal bento boxes for school lunches.
3. Chop food on a wooden chopping board: As the knife slices through food and comes into contact with a plastic board, microplastics are released into the food.

4. Avoid bottled water and drinks packaged in plastic: Even the simple act of screwing a plastic bottle cap on and off dramatically increases the amount of microplastics in the container. And the bottle itself leaches more plastic into the beverage.  A metal travel mug is a better option than a plastic one. Microplastics are in our tap water. If possible, install a reverse osmosis filter or an advanced carbon filtration on your system. 
5. Drink loose-leaf tea: Many tea bags contain plastic in the bag’s sealant or in the bag itself. The “silky” synthetic bags are completely made of plastic. Coffee lovers who use single-use coffee pods can switch to other methods of coffee-making, like pour-over with a stainless-steel filter. 

What to do with a kitchen full of plastic
Avoid the urge to throw all your plastic kitchen items into the landfill.  They will be there for hundreds of years, if not forever. Instead, focus on items that show signs of obvious damage, like cuts or melting. When it’s time to change an item, choose a plastic-free replacement. 
And, lastly, with the holiday season soon upon us, here are some extra things we can do:  
• Avoid everything with glitter (which is filled with toxic chemicals). 
• Look for the words “scented” or “fragrance” on products.  Most contain multiple toxic chemicals.  
• Take glass containers to the Bulk Store for staples like dried fruit and nuts.
Microplastics are everywhere and impossible to eliminate from our lives entirely. But we can take simple steps to limit our exposure to them.

This submission was written by Louise Montague, a member of Greys for Green in New Tecumseth. She is interested in helping others learn how to make sustainable living the norm. Contact Greys for Green at contactus@greysforgreen.org or follow on social media.

Readers Comments (0)