Question from Carol
My mom died of Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and she was a very healthy eater. I have to assume that she contracted this cancer from her environment. I am trying to become more conscious of the things I use in my home as a result.
My question has to do with plastics and storage. I have to store my clothes in my basement which is damp. Many items have already been ruined by mildew and moths. I store my things in closets or cardboard boxes. This is obviously not working. I want to use the Space Bags that I see on TV. I think they are made of nylon, not plastic, but I’m not sure. Do you recommend them?
I am interested in using space bags to store some winter items and clothes. Since becoming aware of all the chemical pollutants it occurred to me to look into what these bags are actually made of. It turns out they are made from bi-axial layers of polyethylene and nylon. From a past question I learned that nylon is one of the safer plastics but am not sure about the polyethylene or what the bi-axial layers actually do.
Is it safe to store items in these bags? Would you store your winter items in this product?
Any information you have on this would be great!
Thanks
Debra’s Answer
Their website says that the Space Bags are made of “layers of nylon.” I don’t know if they also contain other materials. But let’s assume they are 100% nylon.
This is one of those situations where you need to make a trade-off. There are no renewable/biodegradable/natural materials that can be used to store clothing in a damp basement. They would all mold and disintegrate (that’s what nature has designed them to do.
If you really need to store your clothing in the basement, Space Bags are an excellent way to do so. Though nylon is made from petrochemicals and a nonbiodegradable plastic, nylon is not very toxic and the Space Bags can be reused and reused for decades.
As much as it would be great for health and the environment to eliminate plastics entirely, it’s not practical to do so and still have our modern world. To eliminate plastics entirely would take an entire re-orientation of how we live.
I minimize the use of plastics whenever I can. Before I decide to use a plasitic, I ask myself, “Is there something else I can use?” and “Is there a greater good that comes from my using this plastic?” Obviously, I can do more good to help health and the environment by using a plastic computer to communicate than if I had just saved the impact of my one computer.
These are decisions we all need to make individually, depending on our need and circumstances.
