What would a world without a plastic look like? Many food containers are made of it as well as water bottles, shopping bags and when you buy meat, they come wrapped in plastic as well. Did you know that all of that plastic is ending up in our digestive tracts and may be responsible for many health-related ailments common in today's society? There are a number of companies that are now manufacturing food containers that are made of glass which is much better for us and the environment. Stainless steel water bottles that are refillable are much better for us, the environment and in the long run saves us money too. Plastic does not break down fast and it is harming the environment. Things like disposable water bottles also leach plastic into our systems. Check out this report that is in the latest issue of consumer reports on plastic. It offers tips on avoiding plastic when you store food and why it is so harmful. How to Eat Less Plastic Each of us might ingest up to a credit card’s worth of plastic weekly through food and water. Here, how to minimize exposure. By Kevin Loria The first company to ever sell fully synthetic plastic—the Bakelite Corp., established in 1922—advertised it as “The Material of a Thousand Uses.” It had that right: Today, beyond the plates we eat from, the straws we drink through, the furniture we sit on, and the toys our kids play with, there is plastic in the clothes we wear, in the cars we drive, even in the lifesaving medical equipment in our hospitals. And—more than anywhere else—plastic is in our packaging, encasing everything from laundry detergent to prescription pills, from the food we eat to the beverages we drink. In fact, the world has produced more than 10 billion tons of the stuff, mostly since the 1950s, and we just keep making more. In 2018, manufacturers created almost 400 million tons of new plastic, and production is expected to almost quadruple by 2050. The vast majority of that plastic eventually ends up piled up around the planet. Some of it may last for hundreds of years, and when it does break down, it can become small particles of plastic—microplastics—that spread farther across the planet, entering our water and food supply. Read more