THE PROBLEM WITH PLASTIC
Plastic is an oil derivative meaning it is made from non-renewable resources. In fact, around 4% of the world oil production is used to make plastics and a similar amount is consumed as energy in the process. There ton of different types of plastic, only three of which (to date) have been proven to contain chemicals that leech into your food (or ice) and cause cancers amongst other health harms. If you must use plastic food storage (which I don’t recommend) you should check the bottom of the container to make sure the number 2, 4, or 5 are listed. If another number is there, then it contains BPAs or other harmful chemicals which will cause you and your children a hole host of health pains (read more about them here).
THE PROBLEM WITH SILICONE
(from: Beth from My Plastic Free Life) “It is a man-made polymer, but instead of a carbon backbone like plastic, it has a backbone of silicon and oxygen. (Note that I’m using two different words here: silicone is the polymer and silicon, spelled without the “e” on the end, is an ingredient in silicone.) Silicon is an element found in silica, i.e., sand, one of the most common materials on earth. However, to make silicone, silicon is extracted from silica (it rarely exists by itself in nature) and passed through hydrocarbons to create a new polymer with an inorganic silicon-oxygen backbone and carbon-based side groups. What that means is that while the silicon might come from a relatively benign and plentiful resource like sand, the hydrocarbons in silicone come from fossil sources like petroleum and natural gas. So silicone is a kind of hybrid material.”
THE PROBLEM WITH ALUMINIUM
Aluminium is a product of open mining which is no bueno for the planet, the miners who extract it, or those communities living near the mines. It is also a concern because of aluminium toxicity leeching into your food and drink, like plastic and silicone, it’s probably not the biggest concern with an ice tray, but the brain has a tough time excreting Aluminium either way. In fact, researchers found high concentrations of aluminium in the brains of patients with Alzheimer’s disease, blaming our industrialized world for the cause of it.
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTION
Stainless steel ice cube trays are the way forward … they’re also the way backwards as well as the original ice cube tray was made of stainless steel over 75 years ago in 1922 by a dude named Guy Tickham. Makes you wonder how we got so off track just to make our way back. It’s the journey and the destination in this case.
Though stainless steel is also a product of open mining (which is not good), it does not leach into your food and continuously recyclable and long lasting. The idea behind this product is you buy it once and it lasts you your lifetime, meaning apart from theft or misplacement, you won’t have to think (or read) about ice trays again 😉
WHERE TO BUY?
Great post. I like your closing point- that the way forward is also the way back. I think that applies to so much of our sustainable future. We are fast learning that industrialisation has taken away our health and the health of our planet. We don't want to ditch innovation and technology. But we will find our societies returning to older ways of living when it comes to food, clothing and lifestyle.
Bring it on, I say!