this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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Paper boxes
Paper boxes may be equally bad or even worse, since many of them are coated with PFAS (aka "forever chemicals") - which can leach into your food and the environment.
Now whilst the FDA has banned sale of PFAS-coated containers earlier this year, it is expected that such products may remain on the market till sometime next year. Of course, it also doesn't stop someone from ordering cheap PFAS-loaded boxes from AliExpress or elsewhere. And if you're not in the US, you'd have to find out if there's a similar ban in your country, and/or verify whether the manufacturer of whatever container/utensil you're using is PFAS-free.
It would also be prudent to check even non-paper food-related products (spoons, spatulas, chopping boards etc). Even so called 100% recyclable "food safe" plastic, bio-plastics made from plant pulp, and traditionally eco-friendly wooden containers and utensils may be coated with PFAS.
There is this IMHO very interesting solution from India that uses edible cutlery products. It's basically a form of hard baked bread in the shape of knives, forks, spoons, plates, bowls, ... . They keep hot and liquid food very well for quite some time, and the forks, knives and spoons remain solid enough to eat perfectly well with. Eventually, they will disintegrate on their own within a few weeks or so if you don't eat them first. All this without the need to cover the surfaces with anything at all, and also made so cheaply that they come very close to most current disposable solutions.