Note that if you purchase something via one of our links, including Amazon, we may earn a small commission.
Dear Dot,
I’ve been something of a nomad the past few years but just settled a few states away from home. I was going through house stuff I’ve had packed away and found hard plastic mixing bowls. I know now what I didn’t know when I packed them up — that microplastics get into our food and therefore our bodies. My question(s): Do I just keep using them? Donate them? I think it’s wrong to poison someone else. Do I throw them out? Or do I just leave them in my top cabinet?
— Britt
The Short Answer: Avoid putting plastic in contact with food. Instead, repurpose your plastic bowls — as planters, storage, even a DIY battery-operated light fixture.
Dear Britt,
As Dot noted in a previous column, in response to a reader wondering how he might keep microplastics at bay in his body, it’s shocking just how ubiquitous the material has become in a relatively short time. After all, although scientists discovered plastic in the late 19th century, it wasn’t until after the Second World War that it became widely used in consumer products. And while marine biologists first noticed plastics in the bellies of albatrosses in the 1960s, the term “microplastics” didn’t enter our vernacular until 2004. Today? Good luck avoiding both the term and what it describes.
All of which is to say, Britt, that while avoiding plastics that come into contact with food is a smart strategy, it’s akin to a finger in a dike.
So let me answer your first question: Yes, keep using your bowls, though not for food. Keeping them for use (stay with me, we’ll brainstorm some ideas later) also answers questions 2 and 3 and 4. Please don’t donate them. Dot deems it morally wrong to pass along a poison to someone else who, though they are no doubt capable of making adult decisions about which products to bring into their homes, might not be a Dot reader (gasp!) and thus mightn’t be aware of the hazards of microplastics. No need to either throw them out (again, stay with me) or to leave them atop your cabinet.
What to do with these plastic bowls that have thrown you for a loop?
How about converting them into planters? (I would steer clear of planting anything edible in them. Microplastics will make their way into any soil, roots, and plants.) Dress them up by tapping your inner Monet and painting your bowls. Or, coat them with glue and wrap jute or twine around them. Pinterest is awash in ideas.
You can also use bowls for storage. If you have small children (and, therefore, a zillion odds and ends for crafts), fill them with crayons or markers, perhaps beads.
Depending on a bowl’s size, you might use it as a scoop for dispensing kitty litter. Or perhaps it becomes a repository for old batteries before you take them to be responsibly disposed of.
If you’re the DIY type, light up a closet or reading nook by drilling a hole in your bowl’s bottom, installing a battery-powered light, and suspending your new fixture from the ceiling by a ribbon or twine.
Perhaps a bowl can join your housepainting supplies. Wrap the bowl’s inside in aluminum foil, pour in paint, undertake your project, then toss the foil, and use your bowl over and over.
The sky’s the limit, Britt. Use a bowl to store your yarn! To house a collection of elastic bands! To hold your unused doggie poop bags by the front door so you don’t forget to take one with you!
Please do let Dot (and readers) know how you decided to repurpose these bowls that have followed you to your new home. Or, if you’re a reader who’s found (re)purpose in your plastic bowls, please share.
Creatively,
Dot
