News Article

Commentary on microplastics as a vector for chemical transport

Scientists respond to perspective article providing clarifications on plastic-driven long-range environmental transport (LRET) of chemical additives; discuss nine shortcomings of the perspective; suggest omitting the perspective article in discussions on plastic debris-associated LRET of additives

News Article

How to increase the recyclability of paper packaging

Confederation of Paper Industries, publishes guide for packaging designers to increase recyclability of paper products; to improve recycling quality, suggests limiting laminates, coatings, inks, varnishes, and adhesives to no more than 10% of pack weight, aspirational goal of 5%; standard paper mills cannot process much laminate, e.g. coffee cups, cold cups, beverage cartons

News Article

California solicits comments on PFAS in food packaging

U.S. state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) calls for comments on uses, alternatives, and life cycle impacts of PFAS in food packaging; comment period open until January 14, 2020, public workshop to be held on the same date

News Article

Study detects DNA-reactive, mutagenic substances in recycled PE, PP, and PS

119 plastic samples including polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) tested for mutagenicity; no DNA-reactive, mutagenic substances in PET but in 51 of the other samples, making them unsafe, especially for food contact applications; recycling process identified as source; dataset of over 600 organic chemicals in recycled high-density PE pellets published

News Article

Long-term migration from PET

Scientists show that for PET bottles accelerated migration tests overestimate real long-term migration; suggest use of migrant- and polymer-specific diffusion parameters instead of default values

News Article

Study investigates microplastics release from baby bottles

Article published in Nature Food describes release of microplastics from polypropylene baby bottles following cleaning and sterilization steps; releases of up to 16.2 million particles per liter, average infant exposure from feeding in the range of 14,600 to 4.5 million microplastic particles per infant per day