plastic vs silicone . oil vs sand . is less really best?

From oil comes brittle plastic - from sand comes soft, lasting silicone. It feels like silicone must be better or is it? Plus farm pictures!! 😀

Dec 05, 2025

Are we just caught in another marketing web believing the hype or is silicone really a good replacement for plastic?

Don’t forget to leave a LIKE on the way past. Much as I love a good love all we have is to choose from is a like!

Plastic feels sharp and temporary, made from oil and quick to crack or leach as it ages. Not to mention the continuous shedding of micro plastics. Silicone, on the other hand, is made from sand and breathes and feels like a soft rubber. It has the reputation for longevity with integrity.

It feels like it has to be a better option - right?

But is it?

SAND VS OIL.

Before we dig into this I need to remind you that I am not a scientist - I am a researcher. A farmer. A photographer. A professional. A baker. A mother. And more. But we all study science to one degree or another - our entire lives are governed by simple science. You don’t need a degree in this shit for it to make sense. We must all study the science behind our choices. It is logical after all to follow the data.

I have lived a considerable number of years and it was my grandparents generation that got us dependent on oil and plastic. And dependent we are. Horribly dependent on sand and oil - and they are both running out.

So we need to make informed choices.

We can protest the overuse of oil but I am willing to bet that we are driving to the protest in a car that uses petroleum dressed in clothes made from petroleum drinking water from a container manufactured from petroleum. Even our electric cars use components made from oil.

We should all be studying hard to choose alternatives.

Today I am looking at plastic versus silicone. Mainly because my daughter is buying silicone baby bits and pieces. I have never used that much of it before. Plastic on the other hand is everywhere.

Marketing has led us to believe that products made from silicone are ‘better for the environment’ than plastic. Ok. Do we believe the influencers and marketeers? This season is the season when we need to be strong and take back control from the influencers and clever marketing - as Nadine said in her newsletter: Deinfluence yourself.

Are we even thinking for ourselves anymore? Wriggle free of their hold.

Because you are reading this column I assume you have written your own environmental manifesto - your own tailored agenda. Or at least thought about it. I can give you lists but I prefer to write questions to enable you to support your process. We all have to learn stuff ourselves - we still look for answers but as Neela 🌶️ says: It’s the difference between copying an answer and learning how to solve problems. One of those scales to new situations. The other doesn’t.

So. Read my first three rules of purchasing and see if they can dovetail in with your own environmental manifesto. What you believe matters.

Where does this product come from - what was its journey before I got it.
Where is this product (and its packaging) going - after I am done with it.
Do I even need this.

Do we need to be replacing our plastic with silicone (or glass for that matter). Plastic scatters itself into tiny shards that never quite disappear, while silicone seems to simply endure. Neither breaks down easily, but they say silicone earns its keep by staying useful for years, instead of becoming rubbish after a season or two.

But silicone is not biodegradable, not easily recycled, and not always pure.

And silicone and glass are both made from sand.

So plastic comes from oil and silicone comes from sand - both are difficult to recycle. In fact you cannot recycle silicone at all and plastic has dubious results. If we buy either we must reserve space in our lives and keep it forever.

Australia is the global giant for ultra-pure quartz sand.
Australia’s “glass-grade” and “high-purity silica” deposits are some of the cleanest in the world — over 99% silica. So I would assume that silicone could be made locally here in Australia.
But no. I cannot buy local manufactured silicone. Plus no one wants to live close to these factories anyway. The sand is mined then transported ( using crude oil) offshore.
Even though the raw sand is local, it’s cheaper to export the sand and have someone else do the chemical conversion. As with plastic, making silicone is energy-intensive. Which is why much of this product is made in countries where power and labour is cheaper.

Pure silicone has a long life. But. Silicone is seldom pure. How can you tell if chalk (and other rubbish) had been added to your silicone product.

Stretch the silicone and examine where it has stretched. Pure silicone stretches evenly, stays translucent.

Cheap silicone turns white where you stretch it which means the silicone has been processed with fillers. Threatening its integrity.

Silicone is better than plastic when you reuse it for years, but it’s not a perfect saint.

Durable, stable, long-lived silicone begins its life as ancient quartz sand, buried deep inland where old rivers once ran. Or underwater. There are also deposits under the sea. It is not found on the beach or in the desert. Miners scoop out this pale, glassy sand. Transport it to the factory. The sand (quartz) is heated to 1700 °C (3092f) - that substance is then reacted with other chemicals (usually methyl chloride) and becomes silicone.

Yeah that does not sound environmentally friendly. Certainly not friendly to the environment that manufactures it.

The silicon is coaxed into long, flexible chains called siloxanes, which chemists stitch together until they become the soft, rubbery silicone we recognise in spatulas and baby spoons. In the end, every bendy lid or baking mat started as a quiet seam of ancient high grade sand. Not earth friendly. But durable - it does not break down as fast as plastic. Neither does it shed microplastics.

So if you are considering buying a silicone product make room for it to live with you for a long, long time. Don’t waste that beautiful ancient sand.

And sand - let’s think about sand for a moment. Is sand a renewable resource or like oil is sand running out. Both natural. Both exploited. Both have an end date.

The special silica used for silicone comes from ancient quartz deposits. These are finite, but not in immediate danger.

What is under pressure is sand for construction, which is a much bigger market and a lower grade sand and another story. Construction sand will run out before the quartz.

Note that even though pure silicone has a long useful life: it is expensive to make pure silicone products. Silicone with fillers is cheaper and the quality is compromised. Fillers weaken silicone, leaving it chalky, brittle, and far from the clean, lasting material it should be.

So, if you must buy silicone products buy the pure ones.

What you should see on a pure silicone label:

100% Silicone or Pure Silicone
LFGB-certified (highest food-safety standard, especially in Europe)
FDA food-grade silicone (common on US products)
Platinum-cured (a sign of higher-quality, safer curing method)
So when will we run out of oil and sand?

Oil isn’t gone, but cheap oil that is easy to mine, is under threat. Hence - fracking and the opening of oil fields in protected lands and the sea. Demand demands this. So we should have ‘use less petroleum and oil’ in our personal environmental manifesto as well. Make no mistake: Demand and greed are driving mineral mining. And it is going to get very ugly when the deposits start to disappear.

Copper isn’t gone, but easy-to-mine copper is shrinking. Copper is the mineral to watch in my opinion. It is critical. Look at current wars then look at the minerals in those countries. Tyrants are starting wars because of minerals and oil. They know we are running low.

There is miles of sand but sand for construction is disappearing fast.

So yes - the great unwashed (that’s us) will run out of sand and oil - probably in my grandchildren’s lifetime.

Current global estimates (BP AND IEP) suggest conventional OIL reserves could last until around 2070 at present consumption rates, while several studies and UN-linked analyses warn that economically and environmentally usable construction-grade SAND could face severe regional shortages (INEP) and effectively “run out” in key markets by around 2050 if current extraction trends continue.

So, sand or oil, given that we absolutely need to cut down on our consumption: which is better or worse for the environment.

Sand-based products like glass and silicone have a lower impact on the environment when factoring in toxicity, microplastic pollution, and long-term persistence, because they are made from silica, are more inert, and do not break down into harmful microplastics the way petroleum-based plastics and acrylics do.

But mining in and of itself harms the environment, upsets the balance. We see joy but we must concede the harm.

However, when factoring in full life-cycle impacts such as the energy-intensive high-temperature production for glass and silicone, sand mining damage, and transport emissions due to weight - certain lightweight plastics can sometimes have a lower carbon footprint than silicone. But not most of them.

Both silicone and plastic manufacturing and disposal are harmful.

For me the answer appears to be -

USE LESS.
DRILL LESS.
MINE LESS.
BUY LESS.
RECYCLE and DUMP way LESS.

And you are part of this conversation too - what is your answer?

Consumption is manageable. You can manage that yourself.

With all the discussion of climate change we need to keep our eye on over-consumption. I believe over-consumption - we could rename it greed or gluttony though those are pretty dramatic words - overconsumption is a key component in the fight for humans to survive in this earth. And personal over-consumption is the one factor we have complete control over.

You are doing great! If you have read this far! You are doing great!

Have you watched Train Dreams? Quite extraordinary. It is on Netflix. It was recommended to me by my Eldest Son who runs rescue dogs in the mountains of British Columbia. He recognized something in the character Robert Grainer played by Joel Edgerton that touched him profoundly.

The imagery the light, the framing -it is beautiful. Let me know what you think. Will Patton reads the narration which in and of itself makes me weep.

Being part of this big organism called Earth sometimes you don’t even get to see what we have achieved. This is an old post of Amanda Royal but quite delightful.

We are part of a huge ecosystem. I know we like to think we are alone in our little houses with our little stories and passions and horrors but we are not - everything we do has an impact. We are part of a whole whether we like it or not. Sometimes we can make a big impact on our environment and sometimes small. But it all has an impact. Every domino we stack hits another. Think like a butterfly.

Earth Hope🌎

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Every year I give books as gifts to family of all ages. (Real books mind you). And every year I ask you all what you have been reading to help us choose those holiday books.

So what have you been reading. Leave your recommendations in the comments.

HERE is an old book list: from precious previous years. And yes - I think I have read them all!

And yes! I am going to add your recommendations. ⬆️ This is a living list of our favorite books. I will post a list of the books you recommend in my next column.