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    Home » Recycling » Why you shouldn't recycle receipts

    Why you shouldn't recycle receipts

    Apr 7, 2016 + modified Jan 12, 2022 by shia

    Come again?? Isn't recycling all the rage now? Wasn't it supposed to be good to recycle? Well, yes, it is, and you should still try to recycle as much as you can.

    Just not receipts.

    A pile of receipts

    Thing is, receipts are actually recyclable. You could recycle them with your other papers, or compost them. But here is why you shouldn't.

    Most receipts are BPA-coated

    Thermal paper receipts are BPA-coated, and the amount is sheer crazy! Bisphenol A (BPA) is a plastic component that has a similar effect on the body as estrogen and is linked to cancer, pre-mature puberty, obesity, type 2 diabetes, and more. And bad news is that it can be absorbed by mere dermal exposure.

    When people talk about polycarbonate bottles, they talk about nanogram quantities of BPA [leaching out]. The average cash register receipt that's out there and uses the BPA technology will have 60 to 100 milligrams of free BPA.” – John C. Warner (Science News)

    Only touching a receipt for five seconds will transfer a significant amount of BPA to your finger. Say, a cashier who has to repeatedly touch these kinds of receipts, will end up with about 71 micrograms of BPA after a 10 hour shift.

    So it's better to just avoid receipts all together. Go digital, baby!

    Burn, baby, burn!

    Recycling BPA-coated receipts will contaminate the recycled paper. Composting them is even worse, because this could release BPA to surface waters! All of this would increase human exposure to BPA.

    To be fair, not all receipts are BPA-coated. However, there is no way of finding out without taking the receipt to a lab. So there really is no way to separate the wheat from the chaff for a John or Jane.

    So the sure-fire way of disposing receipts is to burn them (poor pun intended). If you have a fireplace, perfect. Update 2016-11-28: Burning receipts releases BPA into the air! If you don't, well, best hope your local waste management facility incinerates the trash rather than landfill it. You can always give them a call and ask though 😉. If they only landfill, well, at least the BPA will end up in a pile that is toxic anyway, yay 😒...

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Resaarcle says

      April 07, 2016 at 3:16 pm

      I had beard about this, but I didn't realise it was that bad!!

      Reply
    2. Anonymous says

      April 07, 2016 at 5:49 pm

      Definitely wash your hands after handling receipts too!

      Reply
    3. me says

      April 13, 2016 at 6:21 pm

      Would burning receipts introduce BPA to the air?

      Reply
      • Anonymous says

        May 02, 2018 at 2:15 pm

        yup

        Reply
      • Robert Carnegie says

        July 04, 2018 at 6:13 am

        I think BPA will be decomposed by fire - it's only made of atoms like anything else - but for disposing of chemicals, hotter is best. So, putting these paper receipts into residual household waste that is incinerated is appropriate. Setting the paper on fire in your kitchen won't be as good. Mount Doom in the Land of Mordor is ideal 🙂 (but closed for the time being following "a major incident"). Or to make sure, use fluorine. (No. Don't.)

        They say BPA released in the environment doesn't last long anyway - it's just that there is always more of it, mostly from industrial processes. And "released" means out on its own. Presently we're hearing that the sea is filling up with waste plastic, and a lot of that presumably still contains BPA. The BPA probably is "released" when a dolphin eats the plastic and tries to digest it. Released into the dolphin. Rather him than me, but I know that's the wrong attitude. (And if you eat the wrong kind of tuna, it may come with dolphin. There isn't actually a right kind of tuna.)

        Reply
    4. gina says

      May 16, 2016 at 5:41 pm

      The bank machine statements (Germany): is that the same? they feel "plasticy" to me and I wonder to burn (fireplace) or recycle (Gelber Sack) or Paper Container ? Thank you and I hope you dont my question here but it seems related..;)

      Reply
      • shia says

        May 29, 2016 at 2:10 am

        Hm, we have been downloading our bank statements for at least 5 years, so I am not sure to be honest. You should contact your bank and ask whether or not the paper they use is BPA-free. If they are, great! If they are not, they are general garbage (Restmüll).

        Reply
      • Robert Carnegie says

        July 04, 2018 at 6:37 am

        Wikipedia says that "thermal paper", which is printed on just using heat - it turns black (or sometimes other colours) - typically is coated with a mixture of chemicals including an acid, which may be a very ordinary safe chemical or it may be BPA. When the coating is heated, the acid is allowed to work on the other chemicals and change the colour. Resting a hot coffee mug on a corner of your thermal paper probably will mark the paper black where it was touched.

        The advantage of thermal paper is that a printing machine does not require a separate supply of ink. In effect, the ink is on the paper already, but is invisible.

        However, Germany in particular probably is proud to eliminate controversial chemicals of all kinds, including BPA, and they will tell you if you ask. And, on the other hand, just looking at an automobile probably releases more, and more dangerous chemicals into the environment.

        And, when you aren't storing statements from bank machines, you should destroy them in the most destructive way you can, because of the personal private information in them. Well... technically, eating your paper statements would usually be sufficiently destructive, but, don't do that. Don't feed them to your dog either. When you take a dog outdoors, they are liable to leave "messages" all over the place . 🙁 These would contain your personal secret information! ... if anyone wants it as badly as that.

        Reply
    5. Hopey Levrey says

      May 17, 2016 at 3:38 pm

      This was new to me. Thank you for the information

      Reply
      • shia says

        May 29, 2016 at 2:10 am

        It was quite shocking for me when I was told...

        Reply
    6. Litterless says

      May 31, 2016 at 10:27 pm

      Yes yes yes! This one is so hard. If possible, I usually refuse receipts at the store with a simple "I don't need a receipt, thanks!" said with a smile. Hopefully an encouragement to get them to switch to emailed. (But probably not 🙂

      Reply
    7. Sarah says

      January 11, 2017 at 10:26 pm

      Thanks for this interesting article! What do you suggest doing with receipts ultimately? If you refuse them in a shop, they just go straight into the bin. The only way I can think of to avoid them completely is to use contactless payment (available widely in the UK) because it only prints the merchant's copy automatically.

      Reply
    8. Anonymous says

      January 10, 2018 at 11:53 am

      thank you

      Reply
    9. cindy says

      January 27, 2018 at 1:17 am

      you are right. and we should use bpa free paper

      Reply
    10. Angel Jessieleena A says

      October 04, 2019 at 7:16 pm

      Very true..Researchers are also claiming that dermal exposure to BPA has more health effects than oral exposure since both of their pharmacokinetics varies.

      Reply
    11. Jinan Montecristo says

      December 27, 2019 at 5:10 am

      I was honestly thinking of turning them into Fire Logs. With all the discussion, I'm still not clear on whether that is a good idea or not. People?

      Reply
    12. bella says

      January 26, 2020 at 11:02 pm

      Donalds market in vancouver has BPA free receipts

      Reply
    13. German Tozier says

      May 13, 2020 at 3:31 pm

      HI thanks so much for talking about this part of working in sigital.

      Reply
    14. The Prophet Zarquon says

      November 25, 2020 at 5:59 pm

      Dear

      In your article titled Why you shouldn't recycle receipts, you state, without evidence, that Burning receipts releases BPA into the air. I have searched the web and read articles for hours looking for a reliable confirmation that BPA on thermal paper survives the process of burning. I have found nothing.

      I have only found sources that affirm that burning plastics containing BPA can release BPA into the air, but that's a different chemical process involving different materials at a different temperature from paper.

      Would you please send me and/or post your citation of a reliable source on the chemical combustion of thermal paper that documents evidence that verifies that your assertion is correct?

      If you can't document your assertion, please consider removing it to keep other people from spending hours in futile attempts to verify your statement.

      Thank you for your assistance and enlightenment on this question.

      Please do not use my contact information for anything other than answering my questions.

      Reply
    15. The Prophet Zarquon says

      November 25, 2020 at 6:01 pm

      I neglected to include your name in my greeting. Sorry about that.

      Reply
    16. Refna Hamey says

      January 16, 2021 at 5:36 pm

      I would suggest not to burn the receipts as this will release BPA particles into the atmosphere....

      Reply

    Trackbacks

    1. Our tash of one entire year! #TrashTalk – Wasteland Rebel says:
      August 30, 2016 at 11:14 pm

      […] A big part of the content in our trash jar consists of receipts. Receipts are BPA-coated and should not be recycled to avoid BPA contamination of the products made from recycled paper and pollution of the ground […]

      Reply
    2. 25 Easy Eco Friendly Lifestyle Changes | Bigger Better Days I Lifestyle Blog says:
      September 18, 2019 at 9:22 pm

      […] Your skin can actually absorb BPA from receipts with as little as five seconds of exposure. Check out more receipt recycling info. […]

      Reply
    3. It will take more than a reusable straw to fix this - The Cascade says:
      January 23, 2020 at 9:37 pm

      […] smartphone. Say no to receipts whenever possible, because contrary to popular belief, receipts are coated in BPA and are not […]

      Reply
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      March 27, 2021 at 10:02 am

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      Reply
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    Hey, I’m Shia, a fun-oriented hot mess and insubordinate cookie monster that has yet to learn how to shut her trap or to grow up. 🤷

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