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WSJ: attitudes towards single-use plastic changing in home kitchens

Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article discusses changing attitudes towards plastic in home kitchens; outlines the relatively recent history of plastic in the kitchen and recent cultural shifts towards using more reusable materials for storing and transporting food; FPF compares different reusable options, consumers encouraged to not forget about chemical migration and impacts on human health

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Report summarizes US role in marine plastic pollution

US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine publishes report outlining US contribution and response to global ocean plastic waste; identifies data gaps and recommendations for US policy action across the supply chain; says US should ‘substantially’ reduce waste generation

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Politico presents concerns about the US FDA

Politico reports the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lacks clear leadership managing food safety in the country, leading to delays and impacting the health of those living in the US; Environmental Working Group study finds nearly 99% of food chemicals added to the US market since 2000 were introduced through the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) rule

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FitNESS 2.0 project expands open access food packaging training materials

EU-funded training platform on responsible food packaging contains three months’ worth of free course material for both current and future professionals; developed by consortium of European universities specializing in food packaging; developments underway to expand platform’s training topics, provide validated certificates of course completion

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Review finds plastic pollution qualifies as planetary boundary threat

Review in Environmental Science and Technology presents evidence that plastic pollution fulfills all three criteria necessary for consideration as a planetary boundary threat: global exposure, not easily reversible, creating hazards disrupting earth system processes; suggests research priorities to find extent of planetary boundary but states risk that “boundary threshold for environmental plastics could be crossed before it is known”

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IPCP calls for global science-policy body on chemicals

Academic scientists from the International Panel on Chemical Pollution (IPCP) publish article in journal Science, call for creation of new global science-policy body to address pollution from chemicals and waste; new body to provide scientific basis for international and national action via authoritative assessments, identifying emerging concerns, connecting policy makers to scientists

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Efforts to track plastic flows in EU and Canada

EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) publishes improved model of plastic product flows and recycling in the EU; new model design is easy to update when new information becomes publicly available; Canada consulting on a draft plastic products registry to track plastic flows in the country