Here's How to Clean All Your Food Storage Containers

Each time I use a food storage container, I'm helped to remember how hard they can be to clean. When I go after one to pack up leftover or store my meal prep in, I'm confronted by the stains (and in some cases even smells) of meals. Regardless of whether I give the container another quick clean with a scrub and cleanser, it's generally insufficient to return it to its original, pristine state. What's more, regardless of what I'm utilizing, whether it's a plastic sandwich box or a metal soup container, I generally seem to have a similar issue. What gives? 

Here, you'll find all that you have to know to prevent your food storage containers from a stinky, stained fate. From the most ideal approaches to store them, to exactly how they should be cleaned, these are every one of the tips and tricks to clean your food storage containers.

Always Clean Your Containers When You Can, Regardless of Whether They be Plastic or Metal

A standout amongst the most ideal approaches to prevent stains on plastic food storage — besides keeping it from heat — is to wash it immediately after utilizing it. The more it spends energy blending with your saucy, stinky food, the additional time it needs to wind up saucy and stinky itself. This is valid for metal containers, as well. Essentially, the sooner you wash your food storage containers, the more they will keep their integrity. 

If Your Containers Are Already Stained and Stinky, Attempt Some Of These Traps 

Depend upon a simple mixture of bleach and lemon juice to get stains and smells out. To start, you need a bit of the two (about a tablespoon each per containers). At that point, dilute it with water, and let your containers soak for five to 10 minutes. Finally, soap and rinse them once again, get them dry, and pack them up. The smells and stains ought to be gone in the blink of an eye. 

Then again, you can basically wipe down clean containers with a bit of lemon rind. While this trick won't remove stains, 

If All Else Fails, Baking Soda and Vinegar is Dependably an Incredible Alternative

Soaking food containers in baking soda and washing them in vinegar is a trick and keeping in mind. These two things appear to work for everything else, so why not try them. To do it, essentially rinse your container with water to remove any food, coat it in baking soda, let it sit for five to 10 minutes, wash it with vinegar, and say bye to those stains and scents.

Also, Always Leave Them Open to Air-Dry To Prevent a Mildewy Scent 

With regards to metal containers, they get damp and musky in a truly gross way, if you set the lid back on before they've gotten an opportunity to properly dry. It might take for a little while for them to dry totally (anywhere from a couple of hours to overnight), however, it worth the wait to prevent the stink. 

Bottled Water Waste Facts

In the past, it was safe to drink the water coming from our taps. However, for the past 50 years, pollution has turned into a worry that people ended up being afraid the toxins were seeping into our water system, particularly in the urban areas. The previous 20 years have seen a surge in people's desire to be healthy and drink safe water… and the bottled water turned into a regular and well-known commodity.

However, is drinking bottled water extremely a health solution, or is it adding to our environmental issues, or perhaps masking an issue that most people don't know about? Is bottled water really safer than tap water or is it simply business propaganda?

Facts   

Here are some bottled water facts that you have to know, so you can settle on an informed choice with regards to choosing the water you drink. 

• The vast majority of the bottled water you buy is simply glorified tap water. There are a couple of brands whose water truly originates from springs and mountain streams, yet most are simply tap water that has been purified. 
• Just 1 out of 5 plastic bottles is recycled. The rest just ends up littering and gets buried somewhere. 
• It takes 700 years for 1 PET plastic bottle to start decomposing. Bacteria, which more often helps in breaking down organic materials, don't like petroleum-based plastics. In fact, they can keep going forever. 
• In excess of 100 million plastic bottles are used worldwide everyday.
• 90% of the cost of bottled water is because of the packaging, not the quality of water.
• 3 liters of water are used to package 1 bottle of water. 
• Approximately 1,500 plastic bottles end as waste in landfills or thrown in the ocean consistently. 
• Plastic is recorded as the main danger to our marine ecosystem. 
• The energy used to make bottled water can power 190,000 homes. 
• Antimony, which causes dizziness and depression and even death can be found in PET plastic bottles. 
• Plastic jugs likewise contain Bisphenol A which has been linked to obesity, diabetes and cancer. 
• The plastic bottles might be BPA-Free however, here are chemicals in the bottles, for example, phthalates, can seep into the drink and be harmful to your health.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

From this information, obviously packaging water isn't a health solution, yet an illusion that needs to stop. Because of these environmental issues, some of the countries are considering banning the manufacture of water bottles. From your end, how can you do your share in stopping the collection of plastic wastes? 

Bringing your own bottle from Intraplasto that you can refill and purchasing your very own filtration purify your tap water are only a couple of recommendations which can save the planet, your health, and your cash.

Our Plastic Planet: How You Can Help by Reducing Plastic Use

The issue of plastic is a worldwide plague that nobody can escape from. It influences our wellbeing, our family units, our businesses, and our habits. Previously, we talked about how we arrived—and the job that China plays on a worldwide scale. We've likewise investigated how Recycle 1 helps businesses. However, at this point, we'd like to take a gander at what every one of us can do separately to mitigate our problem with plastic. Peruse on to become familiar with our top tips for reducing plastic use in your everyday life.

These simple things you can do every day to reduce or eliminate your plastic usage.

• Change your shopping bags! It's a great opportunity to dump the plastic shopping bag. In the event that you should utilize anything, switch to paper right away. In any case, a far better methodology is to buy a couple of durable, reusable bags. It’s worth the investment, as you'll get a lot of use out of them. 
• Surrender a couple of things. Old habits die hard, however, these habits will be worth surrendering: plastic straws, gum (yes, it's made of synthetic elastic which is plastic!), and plastic ziplock-style plastic storage bags. 
• Reexamine your way to deal with containers. For holders – for remains, for takeout food, for grocery need products and even frozen foods. When you truly glance around, such a large amount of what we buy and store food in is plastic. Not only will bringing your own containers to urge you to eat healthier, however, but it will also likewise eliminate waster. 
• Bid a fond farewell to grabbing water bottles before you go on a road trip or run end of the weekly errands. In excess, more than 60 million plastic bottles end in landfills and incinerators consistently – a total of around 25 billion a year ago. People purchase a million plastic bottles per minute. 90% of those are not recycled. A reusable bottle, one which will last many years, is the best approach. 

Pack a less fatty lunch. No, we're not discussing calories; we're discussing how you put together your lunch. Plastic wrap, plastic bags—these items simply make squander. Rather, you can use glass containers and reusable bags to reduce your impact. At the very least use multi-use plastic containers as opposed to single-use containers.

Is Single-Use Plastic Leaking In Your Bottled Water?

The appropriate answer is yes and this may be something that not a lot of you may not know about or thought while you are drinking decent cold bottled water that you bought at the service station. 

In fact, bottled water can be an extraordinary convenience and is a promptly accessible choice with regards to drinking water. It can get you out of a squeeze when you are thirsty. But, would you truly like to drink water that might be contaminated? 

Furthermore, not only are you drinking contaminated water, yet you are polluting the mother earth with each water bottle you drink. 

Here is the thing that some recent studies have discovered about is there plastic in your bottled water.

Recent Studies Have Revealed… 

According to a report, 93% of bottled water showed signs of contamination from microplastics. Yuck, on the off chance that you ask me. They additionally revealed that a single liter of bottled water can contain a large number of microplastic particles. 

Furthermore, the question currently is what would contamination be able to do to your body? In spite of the fact that, this data is as yet unknown and current studies are being conducted. 

Water Bottles Are Not Eco-Friendly

In the event that you have missed this news that water bottles aren't friendly for the environment. 

Tons and huge amounts of pounds of plastic are found in the ocean every year. Hence, affecting the marine environment that isn't so healthy and definitely won't exist in due time. 

Here are three things to consider whenever you need to drink bottled water 

Around, 1500 plastic water bottles are utilized each second in India alone. 

Consider before you grab that next water bottle.

Spare The Environment With An Eco-Friendly, Reusable Water Bottle

Rather than purchasing once more another disposable water bottle buy an Intraplasto water bottle. 

Not exclusively is it eco-friendly, yet it will spare a huge amount of cash over the long haul. Take it with you, your Intraplasto water bottle with you anywhere you choose to go. 

You can generally add some ice to your water on the off chance that you like to drink cold water or add some natural product to infuse your water. Simply make sure to fill it up at home, at the gym center, or at the college for your next water break.

PET Recycling In India

Discarded PET bottles are gathered, sorted, cleaned, shredded, and made into 'washed pieces,' which are then used to deliver an assortment of products, beginning from polyester fiber, which is utilized for an assortment of applications like filling material for cushions, pillows, and changed over to fabrics for use in apparel, upholstery, etc. Recycled PET (a little percentage) is likewise utilized for the production of PET straps, monofilament, sheets and so forth. 

Value Chain of PET Recycling 

There are an extensive number of people engaged with the PET recycling business, beginning from the waste collectors to kabadiwallahs to little to medium traders, recyclers, and manufacturers who use recycled PET for various products.

Step 1

Reaching the waste stream, getting collected

There are different ways by which PET bottles achieve the waste stream for recycling. Municipal solid waste (MSW) is one primary source. Every single plastic thing is separated from MSW and sold to a kabadiwallah who has practical experience in plastic waste. As long as PET bottles are segregated (alongside the dry waste) and disposed of, there is a high probability that they will be grabbed and recycled. There are a few angles that separate PET bottles apart other plastic waste. To start with, PET bottles are effectively distinguishable, subsequently simple to get, sort, store, etc. Furthermore, weight per bottle (unfilled) is sensibly high for the waste gatherers to contribute their assets to gather them. There are 40+ vast scale manufacturing units all over India that use recycled PET (washed pieces) as crude material. A kilogram of post-consumer PET bottles fetch the waste gatherers Rs 14-15/kg. ( Prices keep changing constantly)

Step 2

Arranging at the kabadiwallahs 

The kabadiwallahs get mixed plastic waste. They run arranging operations, where individuals sort the waste into polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), milky PP, HDPE, LDPE, PET, etc. This is done for the most part by visual inspection, by exposing the plastic item to a series of improvised tests like touch, bending, snapping, applying solvents, etc. The various plastics are segrated and sold to various traders. The kabadiwallahs get Rs 24-25/kg of PET bottles.

Step 3

Removing non-PET components, sorting, baling

Dealers get anywhere between a couple of hundred kgs to a few tons of PET bottles per day. Every single PET bottle is examined thoroughly, through manual inspection. Initially, all shaded PET bottles (green, amber) are segregated and sold independently. Metal caps, rings (an element basic in PET bottles utilized for packaging alcohol and so forth.) are evacuated by hand. There are numerous sorts of labels applied on PET bottles—PP, PVC and so forth. PVC labels represent a particular problem, as they could genuinely risk the fiber fabricating process. PVC and PET have a comparable thickness, subsequently it is difficult to isolate by flotation; however PVC and PET have diverse Internal Viscosities, which makes it hard to process PET sullied with PVC. Hence all PVC labels (recognized by sight) are evacuated. Jugs produced using different plastics are evacuated. When this is done, the bottles are baled i.e., crushed to make smaller packs, each gauging 120-140 kgs. Baling makes it conceivable to transport PET bottles proficiently by making it possible to transport 8-9 tons in a full-scale truck. 

Step 4

At the PET recyclers —sorting (once again), cleaning, flaking

Trucks conveying bales of PET bottles arrive at the recyclers. The bales are opened and the sorting, cleaning process starts from the very beginning again. The bottles are put through different phases of manual, self-automatic and automatic sorting, cleaning processes. All PVC lables, bottles are expelled. Any metal component that may have slipped in (like caps, rings, springs utilized in spray bottles, etc.) are diligently removed. The bottles are destroyed, and the plastic (non-PVC plastics like PE, PP) components are seperated by buoyancy. The flakes are exposed to further washing, drying and are ready (washed flakes) to be dispatched to the assembling units. 

Step 5

At the manufacturer – transformed into polyester fibers

The washed flakes are melted and spun into fibers of various grades, and used to make PET sheets, monofilament, strap, etc.

5 Ways To Say No To Single-Use Plastics – What to Use Instead

Indians send more than nine million tons of junk to landfill consistently and an expected 35 percent of that squander is generated from bundling of food and consumer goods. And, obviously, not every waste is properly disposed of - researchers have for quite some time been sounding the caution that plastics and other debris and jetsam are gagging our oceans and waterways. It's evaluated that more than 100,000 marine creatures and more than 1 million sea birds die from plastic consistently. One recent study found that plastic inside each and every whale, dolphin and seal analyzed. Furthermore, we've all at this point heard the frightening forecast that by the year 2050, there will be more plastic floating around in the sea than fish. 

Stopping our way of life's addiction on plastic may appear to be near impossible - however, some single-use plastics are easier to stay away from than others. Take action for water by keeping plastic from our waterways with these 10 basic single-use plastic swaps –

1) Plastic Straws

Plastic straws made the top 10 rundown of the items which were found during shoreline cleanups and it's not hard to see why. In India only, individuals experience enough of these pointless plastic sticks to circle the globe 2.5 times- a day. According to studies, the estimate is 57 million straws every day and the greater part of our major cities don't acknowledge them in municipal reusing. 

Solution: Plastic straws are just pointless. Either don't utilize straws or carry a reusable one with you in your zero waste pack. For bars and restaurants that need to give straws to the people who really need them, they can carry paper straws.

2) Plastic Water Bottles

One million plastic bottles are purchased far and wide the world consistently and that number will jump another 20% by 2021 - far surpassing recycling endeavors. Around 50 billion plastic water bottles are utilized every year in the US, while only 23 percent of them get recycled. This implies 38 billion plastic water bottles end in landfills and waterways. Roughly one billion plastic bottle for each year don't make it to reusing centers. 

Solution: drink water from the tap when you are at home and carry a refillable bottle with you all the time.

3) Plastic Take Out Containers 

The dark plastics that many take away containers are made out of are not recyclable. This is because that dark does not reflect light and the optical scanners used to identify types of plastic at municipal recycling facilities utilize the reflection of light to recognize whether something is recyclable. 

Solution: bring your own containers to restaurants. Get a multi-layered Tiffin container for when you have to order various dishes of food and bring along reusable containers condiment for sauces.

4) Coffee Cups with Plastic Lids 

Disposable coffee mugs have an oil-based polyethylene plastic coating that is hard to separate from the paper shell in the recycling procedure. Most recycling plants are not outfitted to manage them, which implies they went to landfill. 4 billion dispensable Starbucks coffee cups are thrown away each year - and that is only one coffee chain. 

Solutions: carry a reusable cup for hot drinks on your person consistently. Stressed about bearing extra bulk? Try a collapsible coffee mug.

5) Plastic Bags

Indian Government decision to ban plastic bags from stores and grocery chains has reignited the discussion about our plastic bag issue. As per studies, Indians use somewhere in the range of 9 and 15 billion plastic bags a year - enough to circle the globe multiple times.

While everyone acknowledges plastic bags in the blue bin, distant zones can drop them off at a special reusable center. Recycling plastic bags shifts by municipiliblty so it's not hard to understand why they are among the most recognized sources of marine garbage discovered during beach cleanups. 

Solutions: carry a reusable bag or two with you either in your vehicle or handbag, or carry it as a part of a zero waste kit.