How "green" is silicone?
What’s day is this? Thursday! Do you know what that means? Another new blog about Eco-Friendly Material. If you are new to the series, let’s me give you a brief introduction. Every Thursday in July, we are running a session called Eco-Friendly Material where each week we have a chitchat about different eco-material and why it is a solution to alternate plastic out of your life in one way or another. Together, we can become plastic-free in July and many more months after this. This week star is silicone and we will have an investigation to see how “green” silicone is compared to plastic.
What is silicone?
Just like plastic, silicone is a mixture of different chemical additives and sand, this is the reason why you heard some people said silicone is made of sand, but it is a very simplistic description of silicone as the main component to create silicone is silica, which is pure beach sand.
Why silicone over plastic?
At first glance, silicone offers all the properties that plastic has, i.e, lightweight, flexible, stretchy, waterproof, washable and so on. Essentially, it seems to be a sibling of plastic but better.
Apart from all those similarities, silicone does have its own benefits that make it better than plastic:
- It is more durable compared to plastic, which making silicone products last longer and can reuse over and over.
- Silicone is not only water-resistant but also antimicrobial, which make it popularly used in bathrooms.
- Silicone made products are microwave and dishwasher safe.
- Easy to clean, non-stick, making it a popular material to use within cookware and kitchen.
However, silicone is not perfect, it still has its own flaws, which is silicone is also inert. It leaches synthetic chemical but at a much lower than plastic. Therefore, you still need to be conscious when using silicone to contain your food but don't overstress yourself. If you are anxious, I reckon you can choose silicone products for things are not food containing related to stay anxiety-free.
In brief, using silicone instead of plastic is a good direction you can take in your journey to become plastic-free. If you are feeling lonely in that journey, don’t forget that we are here to support you!
StoreEcoFriendly provides a wide range of reusable silicone made products that are coming from New Zealand suppliers. We always strive to find good eco-friendly products that we believe would work best for you and support local businesses at the same time. Your purchase with us would motivate us to continue our mission.