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Does silicone rubber count as plastic? I think we need a more precisely defined villain here.

SapporoChris 2y ago
According to https://www.greenmatters.com/p/is-silicone-recyclable https://www.greenmatters.com/p/is-silicone-recyclable I wouldn't worry about it. If it's recycled, doesn't appear to be recycled into cooking utensils.
adrian_b 2y ago
Silicone rubber itself is much more inert than carbon-based polymers, but it could always contain undesirable additives. Hopefully such additives would not be used in food-contact products and silicone does not need at all some of the additives frequently used in plastic products, like flame retardants. This said, the parent article recommends silicone utensils among the safer alternatives.
JKCalhoun 2y ago
It was called out at the end of the article as an alternative to black plastic, so I think it is fine?
ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
No - silicone isn't a plastic and is much better for food preparation.
- __MatrixMan__ 2y ago
  Ok, but why? It's a synthetic molded polymer, so I think it fits all the definitions that I can find. Are we saying that plastics are bad and then redefining "plastic" as the subset of the previous classification which are bad? That's the kind of language trickery that duped us into making utensils out of an industrial waste product in the first place. If we're going to protect future generations from whatever harm comes after plastic we're going to need to stop being so vage.
  - ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
    What we commonly refer to as "plastics" are mainly chains of carbon atoms, whereas silicone is a chain of siloxanes instead. Silicone is better for food preparation as it withstands heat better, has low toxicity (especially compared to additives used with plastic utensils), low reactivity, high resistance to oxygen, ozone and ultraviolet light, doesn't support microbes and repels water which is great for things like spatulas.

According to https://www.greenmatters.com/p/is-silicone-recyclable https://www.greenmatters.com/p/is-silicone-recyclable I wouldn't worry about it. If it's recycled, doesn't appear to be recycled into cooking utensils.

adrian_b 2y ago

Silicone rubber itself is much more inert than carbon-based polymers, but it could always contain undesirable additives. Hopefully such additives would not be used in food-contact products and silicone does not need at all some of the additives frequently used in plastic products, like flame retardants. This said, the parent article recommends silicone utensils among the safer alternatives.

JKCalhoun 2y ago

It was called out at the end of the article as an alternative to black plastic, so I think it is fine?

ndsipa_pomu 2y ago

No - silicone isn't a plastic and is much better for food preparation.

__MatrixMan__ 2y ago
Ok, but why? It's a synthetic molded polymer, so I think it fits all the definitions that I can find. Are we saying that plastics are bad and then redefining "plastic" as the subset of the previous classification which are bad? That's the kind of language trickery that duped us into making utensils out of an industrial waste product in the first place. If we're going to protect future generations from whatever harm comes after plastic we're going to need to stop being so vage.
- ndsipa_pomu 2y ago
  What we commonly refer to as "plastics" are mainly chains of carbon atoms, whereas silicone is a chain of siloxanes instead. Silicone is better for food preparation as it withstands heat better, has low toxicity (especially compared to additives used with plastic utensils), low reactivity, high resistance to oxygen, ozone and ultraviolet light, doesn't support microbes and repels water which is great for things like spatulas.