Topics
plastics
February 24, 2022
Researchers investigate packaging use and recycling as well as improvement options; find globalization and time-deprived society to majorly drive food packaging use and recommend economic degrowth to reduce use; report 11% of Spain’s plastic waste efficiently recycled, well below official reports from waste management companies; emphasize need to change material and packaging design to reach circularity targets
Reading time: 4 minutes
February 23, 2022
Minderoo Foundation researchers publish protocol for systematic review of human in vivo studies related to exposure from chemicals in plastics
Topics: human health, plastics
Reading time: 1 minute
February 22, 2022
Poll by Ipsos finds 75% of people want single-use plastics banned as soon as possible; 85% want producers and retailers held responsible for plastic packaging at end-of-life; survey included 20,000 people from 28 countries
Topics: plastics
Reading time: 0 minutes
February 17, 2022
More than 110,000 UK citizens sign petition asking government to create UK version of EU’s Single Use Plastics Directive and effectively ban single use plastics; UK was included in the EU directive prior to Brexit
Reading time: 0 minutes
February 16, 2022
Systematic literature review identifies eight studies analyzing styrene levels in food; reports average level of 91.53 µg styrene/kg food; highlights knowledge gaps on other foodstuff besides dairy products
Reading time: 1 minute
February 15, 2022
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) publishes principles for chemical recycling to avoid harming human health or goals for circular economy; should not compete with mechanical recycling, need transparency about resource consumption; prioritize reduction, reuse over recycling; WWF and Alfred Wegener Institute report on plastics’ impacts on oceans; plastic contamination is permanent; at least 2144 species affected, 99.8% of seabird species will eat plastics by 2050
Reading time: 3 minutes
February 15, 2022
At the One Ocean Summit on February 10, the United States and France delivered a joint statement supporting a global plastics treaty; agree treaty should address whole lifecycle of plastics and include binding commitments
Reading time: 0 minutes
February 9, 2022
Scientists develop holistic conceptual framework to characterize and rank the environmental risks of plastic polymers; tool can support targeted investment and mitigation strategies
Reading time: 2 minutes
February 8, 2022
Scientific study compares chemicals migrating from new plastic sport bottles and bottles after dishwashing and one year in use; detects over 400 plastic-related compounds including oligomers and aromatic amines; finds dishwashing to increase migration
Reading time: 2 minutes
February 4, 2022
US Plastics Pact, whose signatories produce 33% of packaging in the US by weight, publishes list of eleven plastic food packaging materials and food contact chemicals that are “problematic and unnecessary”; includes cutlery, polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), PFAS, and carbon black
Reading time: 0 minutes
