Environmental Question #46 [Celiac and Plastic Alternatives]

I have celiacs. Should I be worrying about plastic alternatives causing a medical issue for me? 

 Courtesy of Reddit User u/Peaceofthat

Q: I have celiacs. Should I be worrying about plastic alternatives causing a medical issue for me? I often have a very hard time finding what the plastic alternative is made of. 

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A: This question is very close to my heart, because my fiancee also has Celiac and I do most of the cooking in our home. I'm honestly way more careful about her Celiac than she is, because it would devastate me if something I cooked were to hurt her.

With that in mind, I can confidently say that you do not need to worry about plastic alternatives aggravating your symptoms. Wheat gluten has been explored for biodegradable plastics for a while, but it has never never left the laboratory for a few reasons. The main reason is that it doesn't work that well, and it's fairly expensive. Most plastic alternatives are specifically designed to use things that would otherwise be thrown away like sawdust or corn husks, because those materials are cheap and they aren't very useful. Wheat gluten is food though, so any gluten that gets used to make biodegradable plastic is gluten that people can't eat, which drives up the price.

The other reason why gluten-containing materials haven't become common is because of people like you. Companies unfortunately don't care about your well being, but they do care about the huge lawsuit you and my fiancee would win if a product you bought made you sick. That kind of risk just isn't worth it for a material that doesn't work very well in the first place.

I actually consulted for a while for a company that wanted to make biodegradable plastics out of almond shells, which had a similar problem. The overarching idea of using a waste product like almond shells for disposable goods was pretty smart, but the company was dead set on making and selling disposable coffee cups and lids. I kept insisting on how stupid an idea that was, since nut allergies are so common and you don't want anyone going into anaphylactic shock in the middle of a Starbucks. The company didn't listen to me, and they eventually ran out of money and went out of business after no investors would back their product.

I hope it makes you feel a little better that at least in this one case potential legal liability is keeping you safe.