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
What’s new in bioplastics?
12th annual European Bioplastics conference discusses food brand owners’ use of bioplastics, biodegradable solutions for multilayer food packaging, and production of new polymer PEF
Opinion: Scientists call European Commission’s proposed EDC regulation over-precautionary
Group of scientists calls for maintaining chemical regulation’s status quo; toxicologist and pharmacologist express concern that the forthcoming EDC regulation will not be based on science and erase established risk assessment approaches
Growing demand for mono-material packaging
Report by Smithers predicts compound annual growth rate of 3.8% for mono-material plastic packaging films on global market; sees fast growth for polyethylene and polypropylene, slow growth for regenerated cellulose fiber, decline for polyvinyl chloride materials
Reports highlight reuse benefits and plastics recycling shortcomings
International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) report details current recycling schemes; concludes waste management techniques not “capable of alleviating” the growing plastic pollution crisis; recommends government actions to reduce plastic production; Break Free From Plastic follows up on 215 packaging commitments from top plastic pollution producing companies: 18 projects with no information after press release, few projects lessen plastic production; Upstream compares single-use and reusable service ware for environmental impact and business cost, finds “reuse wins”
FPF workshop on hazardous substances
Industry news provider reports on FPF’s workshop on hazardous substances in food contact materials; chemical risk assessment needs to consider cocktail effects and long-term exposures
Uptake of microplastics on the rise – especially in Southeast Asia
Recent studies explore uptake pathways of microplastics; uptake has increased in recent years; rapidly industrializing Southeast Asian countries more impacted; food packaging responsible for approx. 2.98 × 103 microplastics/person/year; higher exposure for regular consumers of bottled water, tea brewed from plastic tea bags, or ultrafiltered milk
EC proposes revisions to packaging and waste legislation
European Commission (EC) publishes proposal to revise the EU legislation on packaging and packaging waste; includes mandatory targets for waste reduction, re-use, and minimum recycled content in plastic packaging; based on three problems identified by an impact assessment: growing packaging waste generation, barriers to packaging recycling and re-use, and low recycling quality in plastic packaging
Microplastics may affect the human microbiome
Scientists explore potential impacts of microplastics on human intestine ecology; microplastics may drive unhealthy changes in the gut microbiome; authors highlight importance of assessing human microplastics exposure and hazards for the gut