Originally Posted by Quilter Day-by-Day
Why wood chips? What does plastic do to fabrics?
I have heard the 'do not store in plastic' a lot too. I think the issue might have to do with how plastic gives off a chemical residue over time. Not all plastic is the same. Ever notice how something stored in a re-used plastic food container, or zip lock baggie... ends up smelling like... well... plastic? Food containers and zip lock bags are made of soft plastics that are not built/designed to store things for long periods of time. They are meant to be used and then tossed away. That 'smell' is really the plastic giving off cloroflorocarbins as it degrades. You don't want those chemicals near your fabrics!
Other plastics are formulated to maintain their integrity over a longer period of time, those (in a gross generalization) are your
harder plastics... such as those used in making the storage totes, tubs, rolling carts, drawers, boxes, and cubes. Rubbermaid, Sterlite, Iris and several other manufacturers make these. These products would be better to store your fabrics in - provided that you don't store them totally air tight. As someone already mentioned, the humidity/moisture in the air... would get locked into an airtight tub and cause mold or mildew. Yuck. Fortunately, all of the storage bins, totes, tubs, carts and cubes that I've seen on the market... are not truly air tight.