5 Things Pros Warn You Should Never Store in Plastic Containers at Home – And the Safe Swaps to Make Today
Preserve your items and avoid unpleasant smells, marks, and mold
If your home is anything like mine, you likely have an abundance of plastic containers in every room, be it food containers from a takeaway, leftover packaging, or a purposefully bought one.
These can be so handy for storing things in, or helping to organize certain busy areas such as closets, drawers, and pantries, but there are five key home goods that experts warn against storing in plastic.
Things to Never Store in Plastic at Home
1. Books Can Go Moldy in Plastic Bins
Resident Homes & Gardens book club enthusiast and collector, Ottilie Blackhall, never stores her books in plastic bins. She says it’s a recipe for disaster and can lead to problems that ruin your favorite reads forever.
Ottilie explains, ‘I'm book obsessed, with a mother who worked in publishing, a book review Instagram account that is full of recommendations and reviews from my weekly book club adventures, and a passion for reading from early childhood.
‘Therefore, I know that plastic bins are truly a book's worst enemy. If you trap any moisture in there with your books, you'll be putting your collection at risk of mold, mildew, and warping.
‘For that reason, and because I love the way they look, I always store all my books on shelves inside my home. I have a large floor-to-ceiling shelving unit, the IKEA BILLY Bookcase, which is an excellent buy at under $75, and is deep enough to double-stack my books to squeeze as many as I can on. Importantly, I put up my shelf out of direct sunlight, as that can cause fading on the spines.’
If you’re short on space but don’t want to get rid of any books when decluttering, consider instead a smart storage solution such as a rotating bookshelf from Wayfair, a thin (it’s only 12.3 inches wide) but versatile cube bookshelf unit from Amazon that you can add to a dead space, or an under-bed rolling bin made from breathable materials such as a linen-lined hyacinth lidded tote from Walmart.
The latter will increase your book storage capacity, whilst keeping your surplus collection in a climate-controlled space and still protecting it from dust.
Watch out for indoor pests, however, as cockroaches like to eat the glue in book bindings. Keeping a pest control measure, such as a Sticky Roach Traps from Walmart in the box, will help to avert any hidden pest issues.
2. Leather Can Deteriorate Over Time if It Can’t ‘Breathe’
Leather is a natural and hardy material, but when stored incorrectly, it can fall victim to mold and other damage. Keeping leather goods such as handbags, shoes, and other accessories in plastic bins out of sight in attics or basements means running the risk of moisture damage or mold over time.
Pro organizer Rebecca explains, 'Leather needs to breathe. In plastic, it can out, crack, or develop mold, especially if stored long-term. This happened to my designer bags, and it was a deep letting go practice.
'Whilst plastic bins feel tidy and protective, in many cases they quietly trap the very things that cause damage over time: Moisture, oils, pressure, and neglect.'
Instead, Rebecca recommends storing leather goods in silk dust bags, available in multipacks at Amazon, cotton pillowcases, or on open shelving out of sunlight and away from heat.
You can pick a cool, dry spot in a closet or cabinet, away from spaces that are prone to humidity, such as bathrooms or kitchen cabinets. 'Make sure the area has stable temperature and airflow,' Rebecca adds.
3. Photographs Can Stick Together or Quietly Accumulate Mold
In our very digital world, it’s a novelty and a delight to keep hold of old or new photo printouts. You might find your printed collection also captures your most memorable moments in life, including your wedding day, time with loved ones no longer here, or baby photos.
Keeping your photos in plastic bins will protect them from pests, but it won’t be much use if this bin is kept in an area without climate control. It's one of the items experts warn to never store in a garage, basement or attic as these areas are prone to temperature changes and damp. Photos can end up impacted by moisture, leading to the risk of irreversible damp, mold, or mildew.
Professional organizer Rebecca Jo-Rushdy, of Spark Joy & Flow, adds, 'Plastic bins can create a micro-climate that encourages photos to stick together or grow mould, and these are often out of sight, out of mind items that get damaged before we realise.'
I have made this mistake myself, and it was a crushing disappointment to lose priceless photographic mementoes of my many childhood trips to Iran, where many of my relatives live. The photos we took on those trips and printed locally became stuck together from moisture over time, and many were ruined and unrecoverable. As a child of he 80s, we didn't grow up with cell phones and cameras on hand so when those images were ruined, that was it.
Unless your plastic bin of photographs lives in a main area of your home, such as a frequently used bedroom closet or living room shelf, don’t take the risk.
Instead, start by digitizing your images by using a flatbed scanner. I upgraded mine last year to the Epson EcoTank scanner and printer combo, available from Amazon, and it's brilliant, with extremely long-lasting and affordable ink. This will provide you with a backup of treasured prints in case the worst happens, so that your memories are not lost forever and can be reprinted at any time.
If you do not have a scanner, but you do have an Apple iPhone, you can navigate to the Notes app, open a new Note, hit the attachment symbol (a paperclip), and use the built-in Scan function. This will use your phone camera as a scanner and capture your printed photo at high resolution, before saving it automatically as a PDF.
This way, you can scan multiple photos that are laid out in front of you at once, but make sure you have good natural light and hold your phone parallel to the photos so the dimensions do not appear distorted upon capture.
On Android phones, you can easily do the same by downloading an app such as PhotoScan.
Otherwise, for better and more safe physical storage, opt for a photo album with individual slips from Amazon to stop images sticking together over time, or linen photo organizers that are kept inside the main areas of your home, away from heat, humidity, and changing temperatures (for example, your entryway will experience swings in temperature and humidity when the door opens).
4. Candles Can Experience a Greenhouse Effect and Melt
The best candles are usually made from natural waxes, which means they can be prone to becoming misshapen or even melting and warping in plastic bins that are left in areas where heat will reach them.
They can experience a greenhouse effect in lidded plastic bins when left exposed to sunlight, and then you’ve wasted a perfectly lovely candle as well as finding that the fragrance has leached into the plastic.
Instead, keep your collection in a cardboard box, away from heat, light, and humidity, so that your top home fragrancing picks do not go to waste whilst not in use.
Ottilie Blackhall, our resident candle and home fragrance tester, adds, ‘Make sure to always keep candles in a cool, dry place, out of direct sunlight, to prevent any melting or flourishing mold and mildew caused by exposure to moisture.
‘They should also always be kept upright, with lids and seals in place to protect the scent from fading, and keep dust off the wax. If you've got a couple on rotation in any given room like me, I usually pop the one or two spares into a drawer for easy access, but keep the rest, like my festive favorites, safely packed away until next season.'
You can also reimagine how you use the candles that are not lit, and invest in an affordable candle warmer, available at Target, so you can enjoy the scenting your fragranced offering brings, without needing to light the wick.
This electric warmer gently heats your candle, releasing its scent. It is compact, and doubles up as a sophisticated lamp to light a dark corner of your home safely and without a fire risk.
This quilted candle organizer is perfect for keeping your selection intact and even makes it easier to transport them if you’re moving house, or going away for a while.
Turn clutter into decor by corralling three or four candles together on a beautiful tray. This grouping makes open visual storage, such as on a coffee table top or counter space, look intentional, whilst making use of your candles when not lit.
5. Food Items Can Pick Up Odors and Leave Greasy Stains Behind
Most homes will likely have plastic food containers in kitchen cabinets that end up going through the gamut of use and reuse, as well as heat pressures in microwaves, dishwashers, or the cold shock of fridges and freezers.
Of course, there are BPA-free plastic food containers available at Amazon and other retailers; however, oily food items or sauces can stain or warp over time.
Food grease can be especially hard to clean off plastic, so avoid storing tomato-based sauces and greasy or high-fat content foods in plastic.
Trained chef, and Kitchen and Appliances editor here at Homes & Gardens, Lydia Hayman says, ‘I stick with glass food containers as they are easy to clean, won’t accumulate grease on the surfaces and are hardy for regular use and reuse.’
Williams Sonoma carries a 14-piece set of Hold Everything glass food storage containers with glass lids that are freezer and dishwasher-safe.
Dishwasher and freezer safe, these fully glass food containers are a rarer find, as many sets have glass bottoms and plastic lids. This set contains seven containers and seven lids.
There are many reasons to reduce plastic use at home, including swapping plastic utensils for safer materials, but you can also be more sustainable by going zero waste in the grocery store.
