Meeting in Nairobi ends with no consensus on intersessional work needed before next meeting; Scientists’ Coalition for an Effective Plastics Treaty represented by 37 scientists, including team members from the Food Packaging Forum; expanded and revised version of Zero Draft based on member state inputs to be published by December 31, 2023; next round of negotiations to take place in Ottawa, Canada on April 21 – 30, 2024
ECHA 2015 REACH evaluation report
ECHA reports on evaluation activities in 2015; finds data gaps for the majority of evaluated substances of high concern; encourages registrants to update their dossiers
Toxicological and chemical profiling of plastic migrates
Scientific study investigates in vitro toxicity and composition of chemical mixtures migrating from everyday plastic products made of eight polymer types; demonstrates that thousands of chemicals can leach under realistic use conditions, including compounds toxic in vitro that contribute to human exposure; emphasizes the importance to rethink and redesign plastics to achieve safe materials
REACH and CLP progress report
ECHA publishes second report on the operation of the REACH and CLP regulation; knowledge of chemical properties increased; companies still need to provide more and better data
Chemicals in plastics: Toxicity and composition
Toward a Global Understanding of Chemical Pollution: A First Comprehensive Analysis of National and Regional Chemical Inventories
International computational collaborations for predictive toxicology
Recycling food-grade plastics in the EU
Recycling Today reports on the challenges of supplying food-grade recycled plastics even as commitments increase; European Commission registers Citizens’ Initiative to create plastic bottle deposit and extended producer responsibility system in EU; World Wildlife Fund Germany investigates packaging system to find ways to increase circularity, encourages reuse over recycling
NGOs demand action on SVHCs
European and international NGOs ask EU REACH Committee to take action on siloxanes, phthalates and nanomaterials
Ecorys report on evaluation of FCM legislation
European Commission publishes final report developed by consultancy Ecorys on ongoing evaluation of food contact material (FCM) legislation; identifies lack of harmonization across many materials, incoherent risk management measures across legislation; finds that health benefits of the legislation outweigh it costs