Overview article examines recent commitments by South Korea, China, and Thailand to launch or expand approval of recycled plastics for use in food contact materials (FCMs); lack of regional definition of ‘food grade plastic’ seen as stumbling block to many local recyclers in meeting growing demand
EDCs: Hazard vs. risk
Health & Environment article addresses challenge of effectively regulating endocrine disrupters; explains hazard-based and risk-based approaches
Symposium on circular economy
University of Exeter and Ellen MacArthur Foundation host 2-day symposium on circular economy research and practice, discuss future challenges and innovation
EU policies’ contribution to circular economy
DG Environment publishes roadmap for evaluating contribution of current EU policies to circular economy; public consultation closes June 4, 2018
Retailer report card on chemical safety
‘Mind the Store’ campaign publishes updated report scoring 43 major North American retailers on their actions to remove toxic chemicals from their products; finds improvement over past year in 63% of companies reviewed, focus has been on eliminating PFAS, ortho-phthalates, and bisphenols from products
Recent efforts to assess nanomaterials
EU and U.S. projects and collaborations focus on nanotechnology; prioritize joint research areas, develop categorization scheme, review gaps in existing nanotoxicology research, aim to establish criteria for efficient risk assessment
Impacts of plastics across the food system
Policy brief from Scientists’ Coalition discusses how plastics in the food system from farm to table to trash impact human health and the environment; provides suggestions for how UN Plastics Treaty can address the drivers and impacts of food system plastics use
Plastics recyclers call for separate collection
Plastics Recyclers Europe issue bales characterization guidelines aiming to promote separate collection of different types of plastics for recycling
73 mio t of plastic film will be used in 2021
Smithers Rapra publishes a report on the future of global plastic films market; forecasts an annual growth rate of 3-6% and a demand of 73 million metric tons to be reached by 2021
TMBPF as BPA alternative for coating epoxies
Article in Chemical Watch discusses tetramethyl bisphenol F as an alternative monomer to produce bisphenol-based epoxies without endocrine activity