The site I wish existed

PlasticFreeDB started at my kitchen table, not as a business idea. My family spent a long stretch working through health conditions, and like a lot of families in that situation, we ended up rethinking everything we eat from, drink from, cook with, and sleep on. Part of that meant trying to get plastic out of the things we use every day.

That turned out to be absurdly hard. Not because plastic-free products do not exist, but because finding out what anything is actually made of is a research project every single time. A kettle with a steel body and a plastic lid gasket. A "glass" container whose lid is polypropylene. A listing that proudly says "BPA free", which usually just means it is plastic. I kept wanting one place that had already done the reading: not a blog, not a listicle, a database. It did not exist, so I built it.

The rule that makes it useful is the rule that made it slow to build: every material on this site comes from captured evidence, a verbatim quote from the product's own listing or documentation. Nothing is inferred. When we do not know what a part is made of, the page says unknown, and unknown counts against the score. The whole method is public on the scoring rubric page.

One thing this site will never do is tell you plastic is harming you. I am not a doctor, and our family's story is motivation, not evidence. Where peer-reviewed research on plastic exposure exists for a category, we quote it verbatim, attribute it, and link it so you can read it yourself. The judgment stays with you.

The database grows automatically: workers read retailer catalogs, extract materials with strict quote checking, and publish only what clears every evidence gate. Some seller links are affiliate links, which fund the running costs; the disclosure explains how, and affiliate status never touches a score. Scores cannot be bought, and there are no sponsored placements.

If you spot a wrong material, a better source, or a product we should cover, I want to know. This is the site I wish my family had five years ago; making it more correct makes it more useful for the next family.