Wooden or steel utensils instead of black plastic ones

Black plastic spatulas and spoons can contain flame retardants from recycled electronics, and heat helps them move into food. Wood or stainless steel avoids the problem.

Swap out

Black plastic spatulas, spoons and ladles

Swap in

Solid wood, solid bamboo or stainless steel utensils

Impact

2 / 5

Cost

1 / 3

Effort

1 / 3

Grams of plastic avoided per person per year

Break-even

A wooden spoon costs a few dollars and lasts for years

Evidence link

doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143319

Watch out for

The health risk from one utensil is small; replace as they wear out rather than buying new for the sake of it.

When your black plastic spatulas, ladles and spoons wear out, replace them with solid wood, solid bamboo or stainless steel. Do it sooner for any that are melted, chipped or scratched.

Some black plastic is made from recycled electronics and carries their flame retardants. A 2024 US study found flame retardants in 17 of the 20 black plastic products it tested in full, including kitchen utensils (doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2024.143319). A UK study found that, on average, a fifth of the flame retardants in contaminated utensils moved into hot cooking oil (doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.08.173). The risk from one utensil is small, but these chemicals should not be in your food at all.

The catch: don't throw away good utensils just to buy new ones; replace black plastic as it wears out, starting with the ones you cook with. Avoid bamboo-fibre composite utensils, which are bound with melamine plastic.