Pan Amnesty For People Worried About The Potential Health Risks Of Non-Stick

Are you worried about the potential health risks of non-stick? We are holding a Non-Stick Pan Amnesty to encourage you to trade in your old pan for a new form of non-stick called GreenPan. You can either bring your old pan for recycling to one of our cookshops in Reigate or Cobham, or post it to us. We'll take £5.00 off your first purchase of GreenPan.

Toxicity research

We came up with the idea of the Non-Stick Pan Amnesty because we have become concerned by recent studies that have shown the possible dangers of overheating non-stick coatings which contain PFOA. The fumes that are released from the chemicals in most non-sticks that are overheated are toxic. Overheating is defined as around 260°C. This is a temperature that a non-stick pan can easily achieve on any hob.

Revolutionary new form of non-stick

We are now recommending an alternative to our customers that we feel is better than ordinary non-sticks. GreenPan has a ceramic coating called Thermolon, which is made of silica, rather than the traditional PTFE (plastic film) non-stick coating. Its ceramic coating is free from PTFE and manufactured without PFOA so it gives off no noxious fumes at very high temperatures that some old style non-sticks do.

The proof of the pudding

We have been trying GreenPan at home for about six months and we’ve not treated it gently (we have three teenage children). It has been in regular, almost daily use. It cooks everything as well as our SKK and Anolon frying pans. Both of these makes, we hold in high regard. It has a lovely light grey, glossy interior, that’s consistently easy to clean.

Green credentials

Having been ‘green’ for a number of years, we like the sound of GreenPan’s green credentials. The process of making a plastic based non-stick pan is not very kind to the environment. High temperatures are required to spray conventional non-sticks, which also need several coatings. With GreenPan, only one coating is needed at a much lower temperature with a 60% saving of fuel. Happily, this is reflected in the price to the consumer.

The GreenPan Company have gone to considerable lengths to use recycled materials in both the pans and the packaging. Typhoon, the UK GreenPan importer, is planting a tree in India for every pan they sell.

Recycle your old pan and get paid for it!

We are so enthused by the pan in use and its green credentials that we’ve come up with a Non-Stick Pan Amnesty. Now, you can recycle your old non-stick pan and we’ll take £5.00 off your first purchase of GreenPan. So, if you have an old deteriorating non-stick pan, we will take it and recycle it for you. You can either bring your old pan for recycling to one of Art of Living’s cookshops in Reigate or Cobham, or post it to us.

How to take part

Return any non-stick pan to us and we'll recycle it for you. If you are an online customer, to cover your postage, we'll give you a voucher that will automatically deduct £5.00 off your first purchase of GreenPan. If you can pop into either of our cookshops at Reigate or Cobham, the discount will be deducted at the till.

Online customers who wish to take part in the 'Non-Stick Pan Amnesty' can post any non-stick pan to our warehouse at: Art of Living, 51 Albert Road North, Reigate, Surrey, UK, RH2 9EL. Include your email or postal address and we will send you a voucher number that you can use when prompted, on our website.

The Non-Stick Pan Amnesty ends on 31 January 2009.

Best wishes,

Andrew & Babette Bluett-Duncan
Directors of Art of Living

Sources:

US Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/oppt/pfoa/pubs/pfoainfo.htm
By Richard Ehrlich in The Times: Green kitchen: the sticky question of nonstick http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article4935277.ece
Green kitchen: the non-stick panacea http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article4980121.ece

Comments

[Azim]

Hi Andrew,

Enjoyed your report on non-stick pans. My wife and I have a set of the Tefal brand Jamie Oliver professional series pans (with the red dot in the middle). Now the red dot has all but disappeared and they have lost their ‘non stickiness’ so I suspect that they are coated with ‘stuff’ (oh yes they have been put in the dishwasher on occasion).

Anyway, before we ‘ditch’ the pans is their any suggested method to try and resurrect these to some level of usefulness.

Best regards and all the very best for xmas and the new year.

Azim

[Andrew Bluett-Duncan]

Dear Azim

Thank you for your kind comments on my report. Your question is a good one and your problem is one that many many people find themselves in.

I’m afraid the quick answer is “no”. There is nothing you can do with pans that have lost their non stick coating. And really that’s the long answer as well. The only thing to do is to buy a new pan and, if you choose to stay with non stick, do as I suggest in the nonstick report and all will be well.

In addition to this its worth making sure the non stick you go for is PFOA free which most good makes are these days(including Le Creuset TNS, SKK, Scanpan being 3 examples) or even consider the newish “GreenPan” company’s ranges which are PFOA & PTFE free(better still) and highly heat resistant. You can read more of my experience of these pans here: http://www.aolcookshop.co.uk/acatalog/GreenPan_Review.html

I started by saying that your question is a good one and if I may I’ll put it on our blog along with my answer as it will help others who find themselves in the same position as you did. As you know now, all this grief and disappointment can be avoided altogether if only someone had told you what not to do!

Azim I hope this is helpful. Ring or email me if you want further clarification.

Best wishes

Andrew

[Ashley I]

It's great that people are actively researching what type of pots and pans are safe under certain heating conditions. I am a fan of EarthPan's cookware. EarthPan pots and pans sets are completely unique in that they offer products that are made of Sand Flow which are entirely eco friendly. This Sand Flow material, which is actually created from sand, is made to provide food release for a non struggle cleanup process. Visit www.discountpotsandpans.com to research and/or shop for green cookware.