getting rid of the smell

I got given a set of plastic Russian dolls that are measuring cups. They have obviously been in a home that uses a deep fat fryer a lot. I clean them off with ammonia (love it or loath it, it is fantastic for getting rid of the thin film of grease that end up covering things in the kitchen). I also bleached them. However I still cannot get rid of the smell of cooking fat from them. I would like to keep them as I have a good collection of Russian dolls in the sitting room and a set for the kitchen is a great addition.

So how do you get rid of smells from plastic?

Would dusting them in baking soda and leaving for a few days help?

I would go the baking soda route or try spraying them with white vinegar.

I am sure a powder would do it, but wondering if a solution of baking soda and water might have an effect.

Hi Kai,

Try soaking them in strong alcohol for a long time. The alcohol needs to be strong enough so that if you put say a drop of cooking oil into it, that it dissolves instead of floating on top of or otherwise separating out from the alcohol. Meths comes to mind, but that's probably not such a good choice due to the bitrex & pyradine that they put in it, which might end up getting absorbed into the plastic. Strong food grade alcohol (spirits) might be a better choice? (remember that strong alcohol is flammable, so be safe and keep it away from sources of ignition)

My understanding of the problem is that fat and oil is what chemists call a "non-polar" molecule. This means that it is hard to make it go into solution with water (water is a "polar" molecule).

Unfortunately, most plastics are polar chemicals, and some can soak up other polar chemicals (like cooking oil and fat). What you are trying to do by soaking in alcohol is to get the oil and fat to come out of the plastic (where it is in high concentration) and dissolve into the alcohol (where the fat is in lower concentration).

Good luck

hmm, waste vodka or put up with the smell.......

I'd try the b. soda and vinegar paste , maybe leave overnight and then put in the dishwasher.

I must say I was once given a lot of nice coffee jars with a plasticised end on the stopper, and I never got the stench of coffee out of the plastic. I had planned on using them for gifts with home made jam in them, but I ended up sticking them in the recycling quite a few years later..