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BPA in plastics and resins
June 21, 2009
by Anonymous,
22 weeks 6 days ago
Comment: 37448
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Hi, Good question!
As you probably know, fresh fruits and veggies can accumulate BPA, so you are wise to think this through! See great report with this info---
http://www.foeeurope.org/publications/publications2008.html
(Scroll to July, 2008, "Blissfully Unaware of BPA..."
In polycarbonate, BPA is actually the building block. In some other plastics, it acts as a hardener and sometimes it is an accidental contaminant. Polycarbonate is extremely hard and not likely to be what your barrel is made of, but if you see PP or recycling symbol #7 on the bottom, then it could be.
If it is another type of plastic, it could still be leaching plasticizers of some sort, so I would suggest a material other than plastic for your rain barrel (weren't they made of wood at some point?).
Good luck!