1000 Flowers for the Planet - #617 Beware Those Receipts
Do you like the feel of that receipt paper that comes with
all your purchases? It’s nice and smooth – lovely to rub your fingers across.
Sadly it is paper coated with BPA, a type of plastic that was used to make baby
products, sippy cups and reusable water bottles, for example, but which has
subsequently been phased out from those products. The health effects of BPA
have been questioned, and although caution has been taken in some areas of its
use, such as baby products, it can still be found in many places. Receipts are
just one of those places, and there are investigations into the effects of
these little strips of information on shop assistants who handle them all day
in their workplace. It’s thought the chemical may be absorbed through the skin.
Even if we put health issues aside, the fact that BPA exists
as a coating on our receipts means they cannot be recycled. Have you been
putting them in the recycling thinking you were doing the right thing?
Shouldn’t do it. The BPA contaminates recycled paper products. You have to throw
them away – that means you have to throw them into landfill.
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