Babies and fetuses are at risk of being affected by the hazardous effects of BPA or bisphenol-A, a chemical used in manufacturing hardened plastics. Products that use this may be in the form of cups, bottles, jugs, containers and other forms of plastic storage. Therefore, anyone who is apprehensive about the potential hazard of plastic use should take note of this, particularly those who are pregnant or have babies in the household.

Levels of BPA

On the other hand, just how much of BPA is enough to really cause damage to babies and fetuses? Studies have shown that BPA acts like the female hormone estrogen in animals. And because we are still considered animals, we may be in danger when exposed to BPA.
All Orders Processed Through Amazon For The Best Possible Service
But estrogen is active in the body at concentrations calculated in ppt or parts per trillion. Do you even know what this measurement means? Imagine a single drop of water in a train that is 6 miles long. That’s how small 1 part per trillion is. And when the FDA and other federal regulating agencies tested plastic storage with BPA, the results did not even come close near the parts per trillion range.

The Goodness of Plastics

Disseminating information about the hazardous effects of BPA could just be a marketing ploy to help ban plastic entirely so we can use more organic materials for storage. But you have to understand that plastics used for storage like water tanks and pallets, do more good than harm. They pose as alternatives to metals which corrode and leach lead to the food and liquid they contain, they serve as substitute to wooden crates which are not as sturdy as plastic pallets and are slow to decompose, leading to more garbage problems, and they help prevent bird flu and other diseases. Wooden pallets, when reused to transport perishable goods, can be a breeding ground for viruses. Plastics are convenient, lightweight, easy to use and easy to sanitize. They are also widely accepted all around the world.

More importantly, the use of plastics helps lower the demand for timber and other wooden products. When demand for wood is low, then it helps preserve our forests or what’s left of it. So perhaps, instead of tainting the credibility of all kinds of plastic, they can instead disseminate correct information and provide application for future recycling of these materials. Overall, plastic storage is still a lifesaver more than a life destroyer. You can always opt to use other kinds of plastics if BPA is really a no-no for you. And you can always recycle them for other uses. After all, they are durable, and can withstand external conditions for a long, long time.

What’s in store for Plastic Storage?

There are literally millions of pieces of plastic storage on our store shelves. If you add what each one of us has in our garages and in our cabinets, you might say we have an abundance of plastic storage all around us. More than a necessity, commodity or world saving device, plastic has captured us in every way from clothing to furniture, from carpet to lawn, almost anything can be created using plastic. We use it in medicine and car parts, we create entire industries from plastic, and storage is only one tiny piece of this wholly used substance.

All Orders Processed Through Amazon For The Best Possible Service

So what makes up Plastic in Plastic Storage?

Plastic is artificial and seems quite unnatural. A synthetic material yet made up of organic compounds, plastic is made from the combining of these compounds by a process called polymerization. Now polymerization is defined as a noun, but the process of making polymers is described as the chemical reaction where a compound is made into a polymer by adding or condensing smaller molecules. So, what does that mean? It is basically means adding similar molecules that can chain together or combining dissimilar ones which will condensate or cross-linking to make a multi-dimensional structure network. So it means you are taking monomers and making polymers.

Now monomers in Plastic Storage are*:

1. The molecular unit that joins with similar units to form a polymer.
2. The protein structural unit of a virion capsid.
3. The subunit of a protein composed of several such units loosely associated with one another.
*The American Heritage® Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2007

And that means you are dealing with very small parts of our understanding. If you would like to delve further into these different monomers, look up this stuff in your dictionary and find even more discoveries. Just by looking up words, you will start to understand more about very important details that are missed when using large words like polymerization.

Why do we keep making more? As great as this plastic is to work with, we are always going to need more because plastic gets brittle, and will eventually break down and fall apart, so we always need it to be renewed. Thankfully, it adapts easily to changes in temperature while being molded and then while being cooled it results in a permanently changed shape, ready to start fresh and new as plastic storage totes or other useful items to store goods in.

Bottom line is that we need to make sure our plastic gets properly disposed of because there are businesses out there that make their entire fortunes from recycling these raw materials to be used over again to make more useful products and continue the cycle.

Till next time -