Why should you not accept, eat in, and store black plastic containers?

When you are too tired or busy to cook; the quickest solution is to order in. If you have carefully noticed how your order comes in, it is in most cases packed in black plastic cases – bowls or plates. Many times, you tend to empty it out and eat from fresh plate but under certain circumstances you eat it directly from these black plastic containers. Have you ever wondered if it is safe to do so? Moreover, you tend to wash them carefully and make use of them in future for storage purpose. That may also not be a good idea. Here’s breaking down why it might not be a good decision to eat straight out of these black containers or use them later as storage.

What makes black plastic containers not suitable for use?

It is usually advised not to use black plastic containers despite its easy availability and cheaper cost. This is primarily because of certain health and environmental issues that it might cause. Here are three main reasons why they should be discontinued.

You might be eating harmful chemicals

There are two parts to understanding this concept. First, how are these containers made? Many times they are manufactured using recycled e-wastes like old electronics, making way for heavy metals like mercury and lead; brominated flame retardants, and BPA (Bisphenol A). Second, these find a way into the human body when you tend to have hot food in that container.

According to basic chemistry, heat expands, melts or allows leaching. These are the exact processes that happen when you warm your food in these containers and allow these harmful chemicals to leach into your food. Thus unknowingly, apart from having tasty food you are also eating harmful food.  Moreover, most of these containers are not micro-wave safe, and even if you can manage to heat them up, the problem of leaching still persists.

Recycling Trouble

It is an interesting fact that black absorbs light more than reflecting it. Keeping in mind this philosophy, when you discard black plastic containers, they are not easily detected by sorting machines and end up in large land –fills where they keep releasing the harmful chemicals and take years to degrade. Thus, they are not biodegradable and causes more harm to the environment than you know of.

Regulations not in place

In several countries proper regulations are not in place keeping in mind what materials can be used to manufacture these containers. With limited regulations around and use of low-grade recycled content, it is better to avoid these storage organisers.

Any alternatives to try instead of black plastic containers.

If you are planning to use alternatives for all your black plastic containers then you may want to check out the classic glass storage, stainless steel, silicone food-safe containers or white BPA-free plastics (but it is suggested to check the pros and cons before using them).