Un-Bag It for your Health

Why does everything we bring home have to come in a bag or some plastic wrap? It turns out, a lot of plastic is not recyclable, even if it does have a little number in a triangle on the bottom. And it’s bad for us. How is that, you say? In the documentary, Bag It, you’ll find out. I watched the movie Friday night at the Packing House in Claremont, and it really motivated me to examine how much plastic I allow into my home. A key thing you need to know about plastic is this: it disrupts your sex hormones, and if you want to have babies, your baby is born contaminated with hormone-disrupting chemicals which can affect his/her development.

I don’t want to be a downer. Let me amuse you with a story about the struggle with plastic and styrofoam in the Martinez house. While I gave up eating chicken a few years ago, from time to time friends come over and they want some takeout chicken from Juan Pollo, a local restaurant. When you pick up the chicken, it comes in two polystyrene boxes inside a plastic bag. One night, I asked my husband to go down to Juan Pollo and have them put the chicken into our pot. He acted like this would be the equivalent of bringing live livestock into the restaurant and asking them to kill it. I was left no choice but to take the pot down there myself. Let my friend Nancy be my witness: the good people at Juan Pollo put the chicken into the pot without comment. Folks, hot food in plastic or styrofoam container isn’t just bad for the environment, it’s bad for you, too. Try showing up with your own container. I don’t want to be the only nut in town.