Confederation of Paper Industries, publishes guide for packaging designers to increase recyclability of paper products; to improve recycling quality, suggests limiting laminates, coatings, inks, varnishes, and adhesives to no more than 10% of pack weight, aspirational goal of 5%; standard paper mills cannot process much laminate, e.g. coffee cups, cold cups, beverage cartons
International summit fails to agree on chrysotile asbestos ban
Delegates meet at a joined summit of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions to discuss the phase out of hazardous chemicals
Huffington Post article on plastics and health
Article discusses hazardous chemicals in plastic packaging, highlights unknowns regarding health impacts, complexity of the issue
Upcoming webinar on microplastics
Collaborative on Health and Environment to hold third webinar within series on the effects on plastics on health; registration now open
Plastic particles in seabirds
New study predicts wide-reaching global impact of marine plastic debris on seabirds
CHEM Trust and FPF respond to EFSA opinion
The Food Packaging Forum and CHEM Trust address non-intentionally added substances, substances of very high concern, and other issues in detailed responses to EFSA’s public consultation on the draft scientific opinion on risk assessment of chemicals in FCMs
European Parliament prepares FCM report
Members of the European Parliament’s ENVI Committee vote in favor of draft report recommending improvements to FCM regulations; CHEM Trust blog reviews report; final vote scheduled for October 2016
Health effects of perchlorate exposure
Review of perchlorate’s human health effects finds ‘mixed results’ regarding neurodevelopment; Austrian assessment of dietary perchlorate exposure finds exceedance of tolerable daily intake levels for high consumption; recent studies address effects in newborns, other effects
EFSA: 2nd FIP network meeting on FCMs
EFSA’s Food Ingredients and Packaging Scientific Network held second meeting on food contact materials on July 1-2, 2015 in Parma, Italy
Replacing hazardous chemicals with similarly toxic alternatives
New report by NGO CHEM Trust highlights necessity to regulate groups of similar chemicals to avoid regrettable substitutions, illustrates replacement of BPA with BPS and other analogues as example