Microplastics are in the news quite a lot. They’re being found to be more pervasive than previously thought. Microplastics are in all types of foods, from vegetables to meats. They’re in the environment, too.
It’s worth considering just how prevalent plastics might be in your rabbitry, so you can reduce the potential for microplastic contamination in your rabbit meat.
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Why Get Rid of Plastics in the Rabbitry?
Microplastics are being found throughout the human body, including in the brain, veins and arteries, tissues, and even in human placentas.
Microplastics are also being found in animal tissues, brains, and meat. They are found in all sorts of meat, including beef, pork, and chicken. (They are found in vegetables and tofu, too, so this is certainly no attack on meat!)
If microplastics are in our meat, they are in what we’re eating!
Certainly, plastics and microplastics are ubiquitous in the modern world, including the home and farm. They are more prevalent than most of us even realize.
There are things we can do to reduce our microplastic exposure and to help our bodies deal with them to minimize their effects. As meat rabbit raisers, it seems that reducing the plastics -- especially those that are in direct contact and being consumed by our meat animals -- would be worth our while.
This is one more reason to raise your own meat. You won’t have control over the plastics that commercially raised meats come into contact with, but you can make the decisions on your farm or in your rabbitry that sit the best with you.
You can control your meat rabbits’, and hence your meats’, exposure to microplastics!
A few things microplastics do
- Microplastics are a neurotoxin
- Possible links to cancer, heart disease
- Links to reproductive problems
- Cause inflammation
- Reduce immune function and lower immunity
- Cause cell damage
- Cause abnormal organ development
- Change metabolic function
- Cause respiratory problems
- Disrupt the endocrine system and hormones
- Much more!
It’s worth noting that a lot of what we know to be the impacts of microplastics comes directly from animal studies. So all of these impacts they’re finding are just as much of a risk for your meat rabbits.
Experts and leading universities like Stanford University recommend taking steps to reduce your exposure to plastics and microplastics. While they clearly state that we can’t completely avoid them in this day and age, we can work to reduce our exposure.
Note:
I am not an expert on microplastics, but I am a person who likes to listen, learn, read, and research, in order to make better decisions for my and my family’s health and well-being. I won’t dive too deeply into the science and impacts of microplastics, but I will share a good starting point for anyone who wants to learn more. I highly recommend Joel Salatin’s and Dr. Sina McCullough’s Beyond Labels Podcast.
Find a clip of their episode on microplastics here. You can join for a nominal fee to access the full episode. You may also find it for free if you have services like Audible.
Ways to Work Plastics and Microplastics Out of Your Rabbitry
A good look around your rabbit housing and setup will start to reveal the many different types and uses of plastics. All of this has the potential to carry over into your meat, and into other parts of your life (like your compost and your garden) if you are using rabbit waste as a fertilizer (which you should be doing, if you grow anything).
Here’s a look at what I’ve identified as potential areas for improvement to reduce plastic exposure via the meat I raise.
Top Priority: Things in the Cage
The top priority would be things that are in the cage with your rabbits, that they can actually access and chew.
- Items that the rabbits scratch or chew would be the primary objective
- Items that wear and tear would be the second thing to look for
Anything you think the rabbits would or could ingest would be the highest priority. Keep in mind that things that get worn and shed small plastic particles are a source of microplastics, especially if you use your waste in your yard and gardens.
The Cage Itself
The cage itself could be a source of plastics.
Here are some ways the cage can be a source of plastic particles and potential microplastics in your animals and in your waste:
- Cages with plastic coatings on the wire, such as vinyl-coated cage wire (including wire for making cages and baby saver wires)
- Keep in mind that powder coating, which many cages use for rust protection, uses plastic polymers
- Cages with plastic hinge materials or other fixtures
- Plastic dropping pans, though, because they do not come into direct contact with the rabbits, are a less significant source
What would be some alternatives to replace cages with plastics in their construction?
- Use galvanized metal cages (though some galvanizing processes can include plastics, too, but probably less than powder coating)
- Use metal dropping pans
- Look for cages with all metal construction, including any hinges or plastics
- If plastic is a part of the construction, try to choose only styles that keep the plastic out of the direct reach of the rabbits
- Avoid cages with attached plastic bottoms that the rabbits sit in directly
Plastics in Meat Rabbit Watering Systems
Microplastics can be an issue with watering vessels and systems in a few ways:
- Plastic cage cups get chewed, creating plastic particles and ingestion by the rabbits
- Chewed particles enter the waste and compost/fertilizer/soil stream when disposed of
- Water bottles can leach plastics into the water, even though the rabbits do not come into contact with them (plastic water bottles have been identified as a top source of plastic contamination in the human body!)
- Plastic or polymer tubing or drinking nipples used in watering systems are a source of leached plastics and particles
- UV Rays from the sun can exacerbate the leaching and breakdown of plastics into water
- Water tanks can also leach plastic into watering lines, especially if they are exposed to the sun
Some alternatives to consider include:
- Metal* or galvanized metal cage cups
- Clay or crockery crocks
- Minimize leaching by keeping bottles, tanks, and lines protected from sunlight and UV exposure
- Hard plastic dishes or cage cups (see the note below in the section on feed dish alternatives for more)
*Some people say they have problems with metal watering cups cooling kits if they get up against them, and there have been a few reports of kits ending up frozen to the outside of the dishes in winter. Likely, these are infrequent occurrences, and if a kit that young is out of the nest, the cold itself would be a problem, but this might be something to think about or to watch for.
VIDEO: On a Mission to Replace Plastics in the Rabbitry
Options for Feeders
Like water dishes, plastic feed dishes, and cage cups are easily chewed, making it easy for the plastic to be ingested by the rabbits, fall into dropping trays, or be accidentally eaten with the rabbits’ food.
Here are some thoughts on alternatives for reducing plastic exposure from feed dishes:
- Metal or galvanized cage cups
- Metal or galvanized “J” style feeders -- but be aware that many of these, especially if colored, may have plastic or polymers associated with them in powder coatings, paints, and linings; still, it may be much less than what the rabbits ingest from chewing plastic feeders and cage cups
- Crockery crocks (though this is often a high-expense option for a meat rabbit system, and there is some risk of breakage)
- Harder plastic cage cups are less risky because they aren’t as easily chewed and rabbits seem not to try chewing the harder plastics (at least not as much -- you can easily see this in the level of damage the animals do to the cups); they could still be a potential for wear and tear and scratching, and possibly leaching into feed and water, though likely much less than regular plastic cage cups
Options for Hay Racks
Hay racks, like the inexpensive hay racks outlined here, might be a source of plastics in your rabbits, too. Hay racks that are inside the cage have the highest potential. Hay racks hanging outside the cage, because they are away from where the rabbits can chew them, are obviously still a potential source, but to a lesser degree (probably a much lesser degree).
Some options for reducing the plastics associated with hay racks include
- Metal or wire hay racks (opt for something without vinyl or plastic coating if possible)
- Punched metal or galvanized racks
- Racks outside the cage
- Not using racks and placing the hay in the cage -- though there are a lot of reasons most of us like to use hay racks if we’re feeding hay!
Alternative Rest Mat Ideas
Plastic rest mats are great because they prevent problems like sore hocks, they give rabbits a place to sit more comfortably, and they are also cleanable. Most are designed with punched or molded holes that allow urine and droppings to fall through, so they do a good job of keeping the rabbits and their cages clean.
The problem with plastic rest mats is that they get scratched up over time (some worse than others, and it's often minimal). This creates plastic particles. The rabbits don’t ingest these quite so much if it’s just from the wear and tear of nails, but it’s there, and it gets into the waste that you want for your compost and gardens. Even if you don’t use your rabbit waste in gardens, it still gets out into the larger environment.
The other problem is that plastic rest mats often get chewed. Some rabbits are much worse about this than others -- you’ll soon know who they are! Chewing can be a high source of plastic ingestion and particles in waste.
What are the alternatives?
Here are a few options:
- Untreated wood slabs (make sure it’s untreated so the rabbits don’t ingest toxins or glues -- they're still apt to chew wooden rest mats)
- Large flooring tiles -- many people use these in the summer because they are cool and can be chilled and rotated to cool rabbits down
The drawbacks to these are that they are solid and can hold waste if you have sloppy rabbits. And they move around more in the cages, because they don't have tabs to anchor into the wire like the plastic rest mats do. But these nuisances may be worth the trade-off for the amount of plastic they can take out of your meat and out of your waste recycling system.
Other Places to Look for Plastic in the Rabbitry
These are some other plastic materials and equipment I’ve noted in my rabbitry. It’s eye-opening just how much plastic is in our lives, once you really start to look for it!
These are lower priority items for me in terms of replacement, but they are things I could look toward modifying or replacing. Since a lot of these items don’t come into direct contact with my rabbits, they’re lower on my list of things to replace.
- Nest boxes. Depending on what you are using for nest boxes, plastic may be an issue. Wood or metal are good alternatives. Wood should be untreated.
- Cage tags. I don’t foresee replacing the tags themselves, because I also don’t see much of an option that is as simple and as mess-resistant and weather-resistant as the tags I have. The tags are on the outside of the cage and aren’t too much of a chewing and plastic-grating issue. However, from time to time, a rabbit does chew the plastic zip tie end, and then tags fall off or get into the cage, and there can be some plastic from that. The solution is to use the tags without the zip tie ends and use the metal shower curtain rings that I talked about here. That will solve most of the plastic issue that stems from the cage tags.
- Zip ties. Zip ties have a lot of uses in the rabbitry. They are like the duct tape of the rabbit room. (By the way, duct tape is made from plastic, too!) There are metal zip ties, which I find more difficult to use than the plastic and they can have sharp ends, but these could be worth considering, especially if you’re using zip ties in a place where your rabbits frequently chew them (or maybe just for those rabbits that always insist on chewing the ties).
- Plastic baling string. Baling string from hay bales is often (but not always) plastic these days. A lot of farmers have switched over from natural sisal strings to plastics, often for reasons of cost, product consistency, breakage, etc. Baling string is not a high priority for me in terms of ridding the rabbit room of the most offending plastics, because it is removed and doesn’t have much contact with the rabbits anyway. It does make yet another plastic waste product, which isn’t ideal, but there are options for potential reuse, too. The biggest issue here would be to make sure you’re not using plastic baling string anywhere the rabbits can chew it into even finer plastic pieces. Typically, I wouldn’t use strings and ropes in a rabbit enclosure anyway, because they will get chewed and because there is a potential for animals to become wrapped up in or strangled in the string.
- Brooms. Opt for a broom with natural bristles instead of plastic bristles that break.
- Feed bags (grain bags). Unfortunately, almost all feed bags are now made of some plastic or plastic weave. There’s not a lot you can do about this except for the best disposal and recycling of the bags, if that’s an option where you live. I do empty all my feed bags into a galvanized metal can, so at least I’m not scratching the bag surface daily.
- Feed bins. If you are using plastic trash cans, totes, or another plastic product as a feed container, consider that over time, you might have some microplastic infiltration from the wear and tear of scraping, etc.
- Scoops and containers. It seems all scoops are made of plastic these days. That’s obviously not true, because you can still buy metal grain scoops. The risk is minimal, but you might be more comfortable with a metal option.
- Pails and buckets. Again, a lower level of risk, but like scoops and containers, wear and tear, breaking, scraping, or leaching from UV rays from buckets and pails can be a source of plastic ingestion. Metal pails and buckets are always an option.
Plastics Are Pervasive
Truth be told, realistically, we’re never going to be able to remove all the plastics from our lives, or all the microplastics. They’re everywhere -- in the air we breathe, and even in salt from the sea!
But we can take steps to minimize our microplastic load, and to healthfully support our digestion and our bodies so they can better deal with what can easily become a microplastic overload. It makes the most sense to start with the food we are raising for ourselves.
Start by doing the best you can do for yourself. It’s probably one of the biggest impacts you can have, it's certainly the most within your control, and worth it for the health of you and yours!
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