<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/27/recycled-reused-food-plastic-toxins-study>
"Recycled and reused food contact plastics are “vectors for spreading chemicals
of concern” because they accumulate and release hundreds of dangerous toxins
like styrene, benzene, bisphenol, heavy metals, formaldehyde and phthalates,
new research finds.
The study assessed hundreds of scientific publications on plastic and recycled
plastic to provide a first-of-its-kind systematic review of food contact
chemicals in food packaging, utensils, plates and other items and what is known
about how the substances contaminate food.
“Hazardous chemicals can accumulate in recycled material and then migrate into
foodstuffs, leading to chronic human exposure,” the study’s authors wrote,
noting bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic as a common
example.
The study comes amid a debate over how to reduce the amount of plastic waste
filling up the globe. The petrochemical industry, some governments and many
environmental groups have pushed for improvements to the recyclability of
plastic.
Though some types of the material can be recycled, most cannot, and the study
highlights how improving recyclability of the material comes with risks: it
identified 853 chemicals used in PET recycled plastic and many of those have
been discovered during the last two years.
The most commonly detected were antimony and acetaldehyde, while potent toxins
like 2,4-DTBP, ethylene glycol, lead, terephthalic acid, bisphenol and cyclic
PET oligomers were also most frequently found.
Moreover, the chemistries of plastics can be something of a black box. In the
US, there’s very little regulation around what goes in the material and the EU
only requires light testing to determine which chemicals are in plastic.
The study characterizes plastics as “very complex materials containing hundreds
of different, synthetic compounds which are more often than not poorly
characterized for their hazard properties”. Some chemicals found in recycled
plastics cannot be identified, the analysis notes, adding to the risk of
repeatedly recycling and accumulation."
Via Khurram Wadee and Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
