The Lexicon develops online game to bring awareness about personal food choices on health, environment, and culture; supporting resource articles provide insights from experts into developing sustainable diets, dietary guidelines, and making choices about the food we eat
Free tool helps companies design circular packaging strategy
The Recycling Partnership and SYSTEMIQ launch Plastic IQ, a free tool to help US companies make their plastic packaging strategy more sustainable; tool assesses current packaging impacts from consumption through end-of-life, builds customizable action plans, and compares “circularity of packaging strategy against industry best practices”
Maine FCC priority list open for comments
Maine Department of Environmental Protection publishes list of ten food contact chemicals (FCCs) of high concern, follows state’s Toxic Chemicals in Food Packaging legislation; includes bisphenols, parabens, benzophenone, 4-octyl phenol, octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane, toluene, styrene, benzene methylenedianiline, nonylphenol; open for comments until March 10, 2021
ZWE examines aspects and challenges of sustainable packaging in three reports
Reports by Zero Waste Europe (ZWE) and partners examine decarbonization pathways of beverage containers, urge rethinking single-use glass and transition towards reuse, and investigates the economic viability of reusable food packaging
Recommendations for EU’s Sustainable Products Initiative
European Environmental Bureau releases discussion paper and policy briefs with recommendations for European Commission’s Sustainable Products Initiative; discusses ideas to integrate the Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability into product regulation; also identifies measures to increase value chain transparency
Biomonitoring of melamine after plastic bowl use
Taiwanese researchers measure increased levels of melamine in people after consumption of a hot soup from melamine plastic table ware
Recall of Dutch waffles highly contaminated with mineral oils
Dutch waffles recalled in Belgium and the Netherlands due to contamination with MOAH and MOSH at levels of up to 190 ppm and exceeding 1,000 ppm, respectively; exact source of contamination not known
Colombia launches Plastics Pact while previous Pacts struggle with 2025 targets
Colombia Plastics Pact launches; the second Latin American country to join the Plastics Pact program; reports show UK and US Plastics Pacts are unlikely to hit 2025 goals as total plastic use keeps increasing
Blueprint offers vision for US recycling sector
Recycling Leadership Council releases recycling blueprint, identifies role of US federal government in modernizing and standardizing recycling system; suggests three areas for political action: clearer data collection and reporting, nationwide standards and definitions, targeted investments in the recycling sector
EFSA study: Bioaccumulation and toxicity of mineral oils
New EFSA scientific study tests different mixtures of mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH), relevant to human diet, in rats; bioaccumulation at low dose MOSH exposure in humans possibly underestimated; MOSH appear persistent in adipose tissue