Nat Geo’s “Green Guide To Go” newsletter – to which my husband bought me an online subscription to for Xmas last year and I finally had time to read one because of some time off from work – arrived yesterday and I was glad to see a link to a comprehensive plastics Q&A; article.

There has been a lot of talk in recent years regarding the safety of plastics and drinking water from or cooking food in a plastic container. I am a new aunt, well, she’s one year old now (hi, Abigail!!) and for a recent visit I procured a certified BPA-free sippy cup, thinking she was probably to the sippy cup stage (being child-free, I don’t know what happens when so I follow the age recommendations on the packaging). I purchased it at Pharmaca, which recently opened in the former family-owned Morton’s Pharmacy space here in The Junction in West Seattle. I am all for supporting locally-owned family businesses, but in all honesty in over 10 years of living in WS I never went inside that store. Pharmaca is an “integrative pharmacy” and I think it’s a great concept and we went during the opening weekend in to check it out. I can’t remember what kind of sippy cup I bought, but in trying to figure it out I came across a BPA free bottle and sippy cup cheat sheet that you might find useful.

Well, that was a tangent. I guess the point is to be sure to read this FAQ on plastics and be thinking about the places plastics play a role in your life and see if you can replace plastics with safer materials. And check out the Plastic Containers Buying Guide they put together.