notes from two parents getting microplastics out of the house — honest swaps, real studies
Retire the black plastic spatula and its recycled-e-waste backstory.
Photo: The World is a Stage, CC0 via Openverse It replaces: Black plastic cooking utensils. Black kitchen plastic is often made from recycled electronics casings — a 2024 study found flame retardants including BDE-209 in spatulas. (The viral exposure math had a 10× error, corrected to below EPA limits — we still don't want flame retardants near hot oil.)
SOURCE: Liu & Hale, Chemosphere (2024), with published correctionThis swap earns its place as much for what it says about us as what it does: the black-spatula scare went viral on a math error, we tell you that up front, and we still recommend the swap — because “lower than the EPA reference dose” is a strange thing to celebrate about pancake equipment when wood costs $25. Honest threat-sizing and a cheap fix. That’s the whole brand in one product.
AFFILIATE LINK — SAME PRICE FOR YOU, SMALL COMMISSION FOR US. SCORES ARE NEVER FOR SALE. DISCLOSURE
kitchen $25. Lasts a century. The pan your great-grandkids argue over.
NOPES OUT: Scratched nonstick pans
The other forever pan — sears properly, immune to metal utensils, no coating to die.
NOPES OUT: The nonstick pan rotation
kitchen Wood closes its own knife scars. Plastic keeps shedding into dinner.
NOPES OUT: Plastic cutting boards
A short note from our kitchen to yours: one swap that's working for us, the study behind it, and nothing else. Plus the 30-day checklist PDF when you join.
Open the free 30-day planThe weekly note is coming soon. The complete starter plan is already here.