Not plastic, but gee thanks. I have psoriasis and every time I brush my hair I will no longer bemoan what's landing but...'nuff said.

We try to minimize plastic use in the kitchen. We have a supply of glass containers for leftovers, having discarded Tupperware and the like long ago. As for buying products at the store, there's often little choice for any given item - it comes however the manufacturer has decided to package it. Take it or leave it.

We have OXO salt and pepper mills. The product description for them says the grinders are ceramic. It's not inconvenient to fill them. For another grinder, the two Breville coffee grinders we have, I believe the conical burrs are steel. I can't imagine plastic could hold up in that use.

At my age, I don't find this to be a big concern. Nanoplastics are everywhere so virtually impossible to avoid. They are in our water, our soils, our foods and in the air we breathe. I do try to limit the amount of plastics I bring into my everyday life, if only a feeble attempt to not make the situation worse for those that come after :-))

I use the throwaway plastic Himalayan salt and pepper grinders. I never gave it a thought. I think nanoplastics are building up in our bodies and there is not much we can do about it. I am more concerned for the babies and young children who have never known a life without this issue. Although it affects everyone, we older people have lived most of our lives without this problem.

Elmer, I also wondered how it could so I wnent to take another look. I deed the grinder section is all plastic (acryllic?) and only plastic.

And there are youtube videos showing how to refill and reuse similar plastic grinders.

As for peppermills, I have several, but want a better one and one that puts out more pepper. Another post.

I was skeptical of those plastic grinder thingies long ago - how could they not add tiny bits of plastic to food?

It is indeed everywhere now - just think about dust and dryer lint. Pretty sure it's too late to ever totally eliminate microplastics, since they've even been found deep inside caves, presumably carried there by water.

And of course they're already inside our bodies.

" Those of us in our 70s are the last generation to have grown up without our bodies being drowned in plastic and chemicals during our gestation period before birth and during our childhoods. "

I think you're misremembering.....Those of you in your 70s (I am in my 60s), were growing up exposed to more noxious emissions from cars, leaded gasoline, dangerous pesticides (some leaching into food), lead paint, asbestos use in building materials, and a whole lot more cigarette smoke. I'd say you and I are survivors of the years of living dangerously, when there were a lot more chemicals we were exposed to in our childhoods.

And during gestation? Women of our mothers' generation (in the 50s) were sometimes encouraged to smoke during pregnancy, and certainly there wasn't an alarm about it. They were not encouraged to abstain from alcohol during their pregnancy, and FAS wasn't really identified until the 70s. I know my mother attended cocktail parties (and smoked) during pregnancy.

Then there are the ”Forever Chemicals”

I am always surprised by so many people on these forums and in my real life who continue to use and sing the praises of microfiber fabrics, cleaning cloths, etc. I do understand that it is a bit like tilting at windmills, but I try to avoid plastics in any form as much as I can. It is not easy, but no clothes or household goods (sheets, etc.) with polyester, no plastic shopping bags (only cotton and those cotton string bags that I discovered in France years ago), no plastic containers or bottles. Then I look around-uhoh...phone, computer, television. My heart is broken at the thought of what world my adult children and grandchildren are facing. My gifts to them are usually experiences and always books. Not as exciting for them as all the junk they get from others. Sigh. We always participate in river clean-ups of the Anacostia, but it is the same mess year after year. I am off to crawl in bed and stay there for several years.

Oh, and Toronto Veterinarian, Yes, I was one of those kids who who often got caught between the beach and the DDT truck until Rachel Carson's Silent Spring put an end to that. Great book, great woman. It can be done if enough people get behind the effort.

There are some good and appropriate uses for plastics a d polymers.

Hospital gear like disposable IV bags and lines, syringes, (but, indeed, it makes one enormous pile of trash).

Steering wheels and auto parts.

Packaging — bleach bottles (re-use as a scoop or boat bailer).

Mobile phones and electronics.

Disposable urinals :)

I think the only people who should be concerned about ingesting or inhaling plastics should be those who work in the factories that manufacture plastics and fabricate the plastic into items. The remote possibility of ingesting minute amounts from a pepper grinder doesn't concern me. Hopefully factory workers are protected to the best standards available. I feel the same way about most stabile products, be it fear of lead or asbestos or what ever.

Lead, asbestos and nano-plastics don't simply jump off items and seek us out like mosquitoes.