Plastics: truths you need to know.

I am an engineer in the area of ​​plastics and in my twenties years of experience, although I have a multitude of things to learn, I realized that on average we create certain beliefs about these materials in use in our family, professional activities and even more elaborate projects. I want to start this conversation by mentioning that we are being contaminated daily by these materials in our food and that simple changes in habits, including lower costs, can protect us from this. The first is the use of PVC film, popularly known as “film paper”, to pack food. My professors, since I've been started in the polymer area, have been warning me. The film, in order to be flexible, requires the use of plasticizers. I explain: think of a PVC pipe, it is hard, rigid. If you tune it to make this food film, it will still need a chemical, or plasticizer, to make it flexible and stretch, to close your food. Food, not necessarily hot (which is even worse), ends up absorbing this substance and you end up eating it! The plasticizer ends up bringing changes in metabolism and may appear in greater or lesser quantities, depending on the food, as mentioned by this doctorate of BARROS (2010). As an alternative we have polyethylene film in the form of bags, very practical, suitable for the same purpose. Another well-known truth, and here I am even repetitive, is the use of coffee cups to drink this wonderful (in my opinion) drink. The most common plastic still used in this case is still polystyrene, the same transparent one used in ballpoint pens or rulers. The problem is that this plastic contains substances called “aromatic”, as benzene, yes, these names, which can cause cancer and hormonal changes. Imagine you like to drink several cups or glasses a day, taking these substances together? The industry in recent years has been substituted by safer polypropylene cups, and a large part of the population that loves a coffee break at the office or at the home office has already exchanged the plastic cup for their cool personal mugs.

Not everything is lost. Just know what to use and how to use it. Here are some measures that will make you use plastics in a safer and healthier way, and why not sustainable? Easier and more practical than you think, it is to use your own mug to take the coffee from work. And more sustainable and hygienic too. Replace the PVC film with polyethylene bags. They are cheaper even. Plastic straws are not villains. The problem is their waste. Today it is very difficult to find a place that does not have a recyclable waste basket. If you don’t have it, just use ordinary trash or take it to a safe destination. Synthetic biodegradable plastics, used in most of the so-called sustainable or ecologically correct packaging, are not very friendly to nature, as they require complete degradation (and can generate microplastics), which can often not occur, such as biodegradables derived from corn or cassava starch. The correct thing is to give the appropriate destination also for these packages so that they do not pollute rivers, seas and other places. Packaging and materials made with plastics derived from sugar cane are more eco-friendly, as they do not use fossil raw materials, such as oil, and the source from which they are derived still helps to capture the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere. Avoid keeping the cold cuts you bought at the supermarket packaged in plastic trays or bags. Transfer them to containers free of bisphenol or made of ceramic material. Prefer glass or steel over plastic in certain applications.

Well, I’m a Plastic Engineer, and you must be wondering why I don’t advocate its use. I’m actually advocating healthy and sustainable use.