For years, I’ve used and reused twist ties that I got from products like bread. I used them to tie up or bundle cords, to close plastic bags of leftovers, and to throw away trash bags of shredded paper that can’t be recycled in my area. But it turns out they can be made of toxic metals, so now I’ve replaced all my toxic twist ties.
Twist ties and toxic metal
Then I learned that some vets recommend not using twist ties around pets (here’s another one). This is because twist ties are made in China, and no one knows what metals are used in making them. If your pet regularly chews on a twist tie that has lead, zinc or copper, that could endanger its health.
At the very least, it’s wise to keep twist ties away from pets and small children. I try to avoid buying products that use twist ties, and I never use them around the house anymore.
What to use instead
For most household uses, the most environmentally sound and non-toxic option is simply a rubber band. I keep rubber bands that come on product packaging.
Reusable cable ties are a great option for jobs where a rubber band won’t work. They have a tip next to the latch that you either push in or down to release the seal, but they’re otherwise just as impossible to open as a non-reusable cable tie. Pets may eventually chew through them, but since they’ll be cinched tight, most animals won’t find it easy to get at them with their teeth or beaks at all. That link takes you to a package I ordered in 2011. It’s unfortunate they’re not recyclable, but I’ve re-used these for years without having to buy a new package.
Twine is another option. It’s non-toxic, although it’s not as reusable as rubber bands or cable ties. But that’s just because it’s hard to untie a good knot. One thing you can do is snip off the knot when you’re done using a particular piece. Then you can reuse that slightly smaller piece.
Lisa says
My dad has been questioning for years what the metal makes it into the silverware made in China…. I bought a new flatware set and it started getting rust spots. Stainless steel with rust spots. He said that the rust shows that it’s got other metal mixed in and said “god knows what scrap metal they mixed in”.
SnappyLiving says
And it’s our own scrap metal coming back to haunt us, because we send them the trash we can’t fit in our landfills!
Jerry says
Our mailman wraps our mail with rubber bands! Voila – Repurpose!
SnappyLiving says
Perfecto! :D
Jay Em says
I recently cooked some rice from a bag with a plastic covered metal twist tie. Cooked the rice for the usual twenty minutes in water, only to discover afterwards while I was eating the rice that the twist tie had accidentally fallen into the water that I had been cooking the rice in. Naturally I was concerned that during those twenty minutes that I was cooking the rice, the plastic twist tie had also been cooking in that boiling water and probably had begun to release something toxic into the water that was percolating with my rice. I do remember feeling a bit ill and throwing the rest of the cooked rice out after a few helpings of it (which is when I discovered the twist tie, of course), but that may have been out of panic about the twist tie being in there with my rice as I cooked it for twenty minutes rather than any toxicity from the inadvertently cooked twist tie actually making me ill. Irony is, of course, that rice is a staple Chinese food and now I discover that metal twist ties are another of China’s exports (like the infamous lead in their toys)!
SnappyLiving says
That’s scary, Jay Em. It’s really too bad that the Chinese don’t have higher standards for materials they use, but I guess that’s why “you get what you pay for.”
Amanda Estrada says
I know this post is pretty old but I thought I would just let every one know that the worlds largest producer of twist ties is located in a small town in Minnesota, not in China. I work there, and we follow CONEG (Coalition of Northeast Governors) recommendations and state laws regarding the presence of heavy metals. There is no lead, cadmium, mercury or hexavalent chromium. We are also RoHS compliant as well as REACH compliant. And most of the wire is annealed carbon steel. You shouldn’t leave twist ties laying around for any animal or human to ingest, not because it is “made in China” but because eating any kind of metal, especially with a sharp point, is not safe.
SnappyLiving says
I’m really happy to hear that? But how do we know where a twist tie was made? I guess if you buy a bag of them, you’d know. But most of the time we just get them off products we’ve bought and have no idea where they were made.