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Science-based proposals for reducing packaging and increasing recycling rates

Researchers investigate packaging use and recycling as well as improvement options; find globalization and time-deprived society to majorly drive food packaging use and recommend economic degrowth to reduce use; report 11% of Spain’s plastic waste efficiently recycled, well below official reports from waste management companies; emphasize need to change material and packaging design to reach circularity targets

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2021 FPF Workshop: Understanding supply chains and improving policies

On the second day of the Food Packaging Forum’s annual workshop, speakers discuss the investments necessary to understand complex food and packaging supply chains and the benefits of taking the time to do so; assessing plastic circularity through a more honest assessment of the post-consumer life of plastics; the ongoing work of European Commission’s food contact materials policy revision

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Researches develop and evaluate methods for food contact chemical determination

Propose method to analyze chemical markers of mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) from printing inks in food packaging; present workflow that includes in silico prediction tools to identify nonvolatile migrates from food packaging; evaluate efficiency and reliability of methodology for non-target identification of volatile substances

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Plastic recycling: company commitments and chemical safety challenges

Scientists report most large companies commit to reducing plastic pollution but focus on recycling; extrusion of recycled materials and legacy compounds in recycled materials as safety challenge; some substances increase others decrease with the increase in recycled content in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles; tentatively identify 212 volatile chemicals in 57 different recycled PET flakes available in China; present migration model to characterize the exposure and risk of PET oligomers

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New research on chemical migration from plastic, paper, can coating, and reusables

Recent reports investigate whitening agents’ migration from disposable plastic containers; characterize 153 chemicals migrating from paper packaging and show estimated dietary exposure for children to per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) exceed safety threshold; detect brominated flame retardants in repeat-use food contact articles; review metal can coating literature concerning coatings types, chemical migrants, detection methods, dietary exposure, and regulatory

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Studies investigate circular economy barriers, consumer perceptions

Recent set of articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals review current barriers in flexible plastics to achieving circular economy, recommends regulatory policies be tailored to individual steps in supply chain; consumers easily confused by plastic waste management system, recycling processes, biodegradability claims; researchers instead propose food system shift towards decentralization, shorter supply chains