Tips and Resources
Go BPA Free by Barbara McClean, The One Stop Sustainability Shop
Bisphenol-A, or BPA as this estrogen-mimicking chemical is commonly known, was first synthesized before 1900, and began to be used in the 1950’s in polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins. Today, over six billion pounds of BPA are produced each year, making it one of the highest production volume plastics in the world. It is used in a wide array of consumer and industrial products such as polycarbonate baby and sports bottles, epoxy resins lining food cans, dental sealants and now credit card receipts.
Science News reports that John C. Warner of the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry has found that both carbonless copy papers and the thermal imaging papers that form most receipts today are coated in a powdery layer of the chemical. Manufacturers coat a layer of BPA onto one side of a piece of paper together with invisible ink. When pressure or heat is applied the two merge together and create colored print.
In animals, fetal exposures to BPA can be especially risky, sometimes fostering brain, behavioral or reproductive problems which is why BPA in baby bottles has been so alarming. Canada and some states are moving to ban polycarbonate plastic in baby bottles for that reason. New data suggest because BPA is an estrogen like chemical it could be harmful to adults as well. It has been linked to variety of reproductive disorders, sexual dysfunction, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, neurological problems and is an endocrine disruptor.
Research has shown that most people carry traces of the chemical: A study conducted from 2003 to 2004 by researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention found it in urine samples of 93 percent of 2,517 Americans tested. So where is all this BPA coming from? Chemist John Warner suggests that BPA tainted receipt paper may be the culprit.
Poly carbonate bottles like baby and water bottles leach out nanogram quantities of BPA, because it’s bound into a polymer, but receipt tape can have 60 to 100 milligrams of free BPA, that is, individual molecules which are loose and ready for uptake. A customer or store clerk who handles a receipt can get BPA on their fingers which may be transferred to food or mucus membranes and enter the body.
Not all receipt tape is coated with BPA, but much of it is and it’s impossible to tell. In our store we used Office Max 2 1/4” thermal paper rolls for our POS machine. Nothing on the box suggests there is any chemical associated with this paper, however, when I called Office Max and asked I discovered that, yes, indeed, their receipt tape is coated with BPA, although the person I spoke to said he couldn’t tell me how much. At that point I decided I didn’t want any BPA in our receipt paper.
I was unable to find BPA free receipt tape in Portland. After a search on the internet I discovered Appleton Papers has been manufacturing BPA free receipt paper since about 2006. Appleton Papers only sells the BPA free paper in car-sized rolls so after more searching I found a company in Arizona that sells 2 1/4” receipt rolls as well as many other sizes. We bought a few extra boxes of the receipt tape in case other merchants on Alberta Street or stores anywhere in Portland wanted to get some.
The thermal rolls we carry are 2 1/4” X 80’ and have a ½” recycled plastic core. On the reverse side of the tape is a printed message, “This establishment has chosen this BPA free paper for the safety of its customers, employees and our environment.” It’s really a nice feeling to know that we are not poisoning ourselves or our customers! Call or e-mail us if you’d like to get some BPA free receipt tape at info@sustainabilitypdx.com or 503-241-5404.
