About Everyday Materials
I’m Melecio, and I started this site because the internet is terrible at answering a specific kind of question.
Is the plastic in my kid’s sippy cup safe? Does that non-stick pan leach something when I overheat it? Is bamboo dinnerware actually eco-friendly, or is it a scam? What’s in the fire retardant on my couch?
Google these questions and you get two extremes: alarmist blogs selling you a $60 “clean” alternative, or industry pages quietly reassuring you everything is fine. Neither shows its work. Neither tells you which specific conditions matter. Neither updates when new research comes out.
I got frustrated enough to start doing my own research. Download the actual studies. Read the methodology sections. Check what regulatory agencies — the EPA, FDA, European Chemicals Agency, WHO — had actually published, versus what a blog claimed they’d published. Over a few years of this, I got reasonably good at it.
Everyday Materials is what that process looks like when I write it down.
What this site is
A growing library of evidence-based guides on household materials — what they’re made of, what’s known about their safety, and what a reasonable person should actually do about it. Every guide lands on one of three verdicts: Safe, Caution, or Avoid, based on the weight of current research. Every claim links to a source. Every verdict explains its reasoning. When research is genuinely mixed, I say so.
What I’m not
I’m not a toxicologist, chemist, materials scientist, or medical professional. I don’t have a degree in any relevant field. I have no financial relationship with any manufacturer covered on this site and no brand partnerships that influence verdicts. Amazon affiliate links fund this site — those are disclosed on every guide.
What I am is a careful researcher who decided the internet needed fewer opinion pieces and more synthesis. If you want credentialed medical advice, see a doctor. If you want to understand the research landscape around the plastic in your kitchen before you buy the $40 alternative, this site is for you.
Reach me
Email: myeverydaymaterials@gmail.com. If you spot an error, find a newer study I should incorporate, or have a material you’d like me to research, I want to hear about it.