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AR15.COM
7/17/2007 6:16:25 PM EDT
So...my girlfriend purchased about 20 plastic tubs for her classroom.  The problem with them is that they smell HORRIBLE. It's like a weird/strong plastic or rubber smell, but certainly nothing we had ever smelled before.  She has tried EVERYTHING to get rid of the smell (let them air-out outside for a couple of days during monsoons, washed them with antibacterial soaps, scrubbed them in hot water, and even put them through the dishwasher), but nothing has worked! Any ideas?!?
7/17/2007 6:25:14 PM EDT
[#1]

Quoted:
Any ideas?!?


Return them. Although the cause of the odor may be harmless, I just don't like the idea of molecules leeching out of plastic to the level that their odor would be offensive. So... for the children
7/17/2007 6:39:33 PM EDT
[#2]

Quoted:
I think she's putting things like math manipulatives and children's books in them.


What did you just say?  
7/17/2007 6:43:36 PM EDT
[#3]

Quoted:

Quoted:
I think she's putting things like math manipulatives and children's books in them.


What did you just say?  


Math manipulatives = pattern blocks, unifix cubes, base ten blocks, geoboards, etc

And also...the odor ruins ever room and thing it touches and is lasting. Several rooms of the house, the dishwasher, and the backyard are all now tainted with a gut-wrenching smell.
7/17/2007 6:54:08 PM EDT
[#4]
She is gonna have to put them outside in the sun for awhile. The plastic is still gassing off the chemicals used in manufacturing.
7/17/2007 6:58:33 PM EDT
[#5]
Try soaking them in hot water with baking soda or lemon juice.

Baking soda will clean and deodorize the dishwasher too.
7/17/2007 7:00:20 PM EDT
[#6]
Hydrogen Peroxide if that don't get the smell out you may be stuck with it.
7/17/2007 7:07:55 PM EDT
[#7]
Febreeze!!!!!!!!!!!!!
7/17/2007 7:23:41 PM EDT
[#8]
DEET
7/17/2007 7:25:32 PM EDT
[#9]
Sounds like something I wouldn't want in my house.
7/17/2007 8:31:10 PM EDT
[#10]

Quoted:
Hmmmm . . . did ya get them from Walmart?

I recently picked up a couple of those big storage bins to put up in my attic . . .

. . . once we got home we noticed that they smelled like what I would imagine a Mexican day-laborers cock would smell like after spending a day hip deep in a septic tank in Ramadi in August.

We threw them out and febreezed/disinfected/killed with fire everything that touched those ill fated bins.

They smelled like a shitter in an Indian restaurant on "free curry" day with a broken A/C and no windows.

Disconenctor


That was funny as hell.

Don't sweat it, after a week in the classroom they will smell like graham crackers and pee.

7/18/2007 7:09:47 AM EDT
[#11]

Quoted:
She is gonna have to put them outside in the sun for awhile. The plastic is still gassing off the chemicals used in manufacturing.


+1 - Is it a formaldehide smell? Some plastics just emit formaldehide as they "cure".
7/18/2007 7:23:40 AM EDT
[#12]

Quoted:

...they smelled like what I would imagine a Mexican day-laborers cock would smell like after spending a day hip deep in a septic tank in Ramadi in August...



I scares me that you would "imagine" that...
7/18/2007 8:00:50 AM EDT
[#13]
maybe a citrus degreaser