Silicone is safer. Durability? It's closer than you'd think.

Silicone lunch boxes are clearly safer than plastic, and they usually last longer too — but they’ve got their own weaknesses worth knowing about.

On safety, it’s not close. Food-grade silicone is inert. It doesn’t contain BPA or phthalates, and it doesn’t leach anything into your food whether it’s hot, cold, or been scrubbed a hundred times. Plastic’s track record is messier: it can leach chemicals as it degrades, and heat and scratches speed that up. A scratched-up plastic container is basically