Question from Deb H.
I am slowly trying to eliminate plastics in my house. I noticed from your blog on “how I do laundry”, you use wooden clothes hangers. I was wondering where you get them, do you look for untreated wood, are they stained, polyureathaned or raw, and about how much do they cost. I know replacing my plastic hangers will cost but I don’t want to bring anything else toxic into the house.
Thank you for all your helpful info.
Debra’s Answer
I’ve purchased wooden clothes hangers at a variety of stores like IKEA, Bed Bath & Beyond, Linens ‘n Things, Target, etc. They are not hard to find. They are not sustainably harvested and do have a nontoxic finish on them. I’ve never purchased any that had an odor.
You can easily buy them online if you don’t find them in your local stores.
Hi Debra ~ wanted to give you and your readers a “cheat sheet” for identifying plastic and whether it’s toxic or not.
[1] PET – OK – very stable and strong. most recycled of all plastics. Think water bottles. no off-gassing
[2] HDPE – OK – stable plastic – OK for storing food but not for heating foods up. Think Tupperware. no off-gassing
[3] PVC – NO – leaches chemicals and contains a known carcinogen. the worst of the plastics.
[4] LDPE – OK – stable plastic – think food storage bags, milk jugs. highly recyclable.
[5] PP – OK – stable plastic – think ketchup bottles, yogurt tubs. not widely recycled.
[6] PS – NO – unstable and not widely recycled. contains benzene, a carcinogen, found in cigarette smoke.
[7] PC – NO – made with BPA, a hormone disrupter.
BIO – PLASTIC – MIXED – will only compost in a municipal compost facility. Also extremely bad if it is recycled with other, oil-based plastics. Can take food stock away from the market.
Thanks for the reminder. I’ve posted this elsewhere but it doesn’t hurt to have it here too.
I’ve seen a new line of hangers made completely out of recycled paper (no metal at all). It can hold up to 20lbs. They have a few green certifications as well. I’m going to give a few a try and see how it goes. Ditto Hangers.
Even the eco wood hangers I have found online say “low VOC” finish, which to me is not acceptable. I want it without any finish.
I have also seen raw bamboo hangers online as well. However, I am really curious about these recycled and compostable hangers at Ditto. Sounds neat to me!
On the website:
“Ditto Hangers are certified to be non-toxic and contain no formaldehyde, chlorines, heavy metals (lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium, antimony), pesticides and azo dyes. We use only soy-based inks and starch-based adhesives. There is no off-gassing of dangerous chemicals, unlike plastic, wood and bamboo hangers.”
Thanks, Rebekah! We’re very proud of our Ditto Hangers! We’ve worked hard to create a product that is nontoxic, uses only recycled material, and is 100% recyclable. AND you can fit up to 50% more clothing in small closets with Ditto! You can buy them at http://www.buygreen.com!
Sounds neat to me too. I’ve emailed them asking them to send me some samples. Even though they are recycled, that doesn’t mean they are nontoxic. I want to see for myself before recommending them.
What is this non-toxic finish that you mention on wooden hangers? I wonder about if we think it is non toxic but may learn a different story later.
I’m working on being more precise about how I describe things, so let me reword. The finish on all the wood hangers I have ever seen or used do not emit any vapors of chemicals—toxic or otherwise—that I can detect. I have attempted to find out the type of finish used, but retailers do not have that information. To the best of my ability to assess wood hangers, they do not pose a toxic danger. I cannot absolutely rule out toxic dangers if I don’t know the materials. However, often toxic products have detectable odors, and wood hangers, in my experience do not. This is not typically how I determine if a product is toxic or not, but it’s the best I can do in the absence of manufacturer disclosure.
Yesterday I was in a major chain store looking for a particular item. I asked the sales person and he suggested a product he thought would work for me. Knowing it was plastic, I asked him what it was made from. “Plastic,” he said. “I know, plastic,” I said. “What type of plastic?” He had no idea. Then he told me about other plastic products that were “BPA-free” and showed me the recycling symbol on another plastic product, but none of this is about the toxicity of the plastic. I told him their company needs to know the type of plastic used for each of the products they sell. They just don’t know it, and don’t know they should know it. At least I asked about it. We need more disclosure. I’m working on this.
Thank you for the detailed information. I am also trying to use healthier products and I appreciate when others can educate me also about all this
Hi Debra ~ I can help you out here as we’ve done a LOT of research on hangers!
Plastic hangers can be made out of many materials. Polystyrene [6] which contains benzene, a carcinogen that both off-gasses and leaches into ground water in landfills. Polycarbonate [7] leaches biphenyl-A into groundwater. Both PS and PC are very unstable plastics. Polypropylene [5] is more stable and better with little or no off-gassing.
Wood/bamboo hangers have oil-based stains and sealers, which off-gas. Both wood and bamboo hangers are 100% unrecyclable or compostable due to these coatings and wire hooks, vinyl pads and rubber clamps. Plus unless FSC certified, most wood for wood hangers comes from very questionable sources/conflict countries. Both wood and bamboo hangers end up going into landfills.
And even the wire dry cleaner hangers off-gas volatile chemical compounds from the sealer sprayed on them to prevent rusting.
Please note that most closets are sealed with no vents or air circulation. That means that any off-gassing from your hangers, goes directly into your clothes. You should also make sure to always take off the plastic bags when your clothing comes back from the dry cleaner.
Thanks Gary. I tried one of your hangers years ago and it had an odor, so I couldn’t recommend it then. If you’ll send me another one to check out, I’ll see how it is now.
What about the chrome handles? Any luck with a non-plastic alternative?