Topics
recycling
October 10, 2024
Analysis of black plastic household products in the US finds flame retardants in 85% of bromine-positive samples; including food contact kitchen utensils and toys; authors link e-waste as a source; call for ban of harmful chemical additives through the Plastics Treaty
Reading time: 3 minutes
September 2, 2024
European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) updates its guidelines for assessing PET recycling processes for materials intended for food contact; applicants must include information on collection, pre-processing, decontamination, post-processing, and intended use; potential dietary exposure of contaminants must not exceed 0.0025 μg/kg body weight per day
Reading time: 1 minute
August 29, 2024
Environmental Health News reports on process to approve recycled plastic products for food contact; researchers quoted in the article argue that the approach is insufficient; more thorough testing and safety assessments needed
Reading time: 2 minutes
July 29, 2024
Japan’s Joint Article Management Promotion-consortium gives guidelines on ensuring safe recycled materials; provides considerations for recycling process for various materials to avoid chemical contamination; urges for transparency about substances used in the supply chain
Reading time: 1 minute
July 16, 2024
On average, 80.2% of glass packaging collected for recycling in 2022 in the EU; Steel recycling rate reaches 80.5%; 70% recycling rate for paper and board in the UK in 2023; 40% recycling rate for plastics in the EU in 2021
Reading time: 2 minutes
May 31, 2024
Report commissioned by the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) reviews chemical recycling of plastic waste; finds the technical feasibility, environmental benefits, and economic viability of the technology are not sufficiently demonstrated; excessive subsidies or investments may lock-in environmentally unfavorable processes and infrastructure
Reading time: 3 minutes
March 20, 2024
Dossier discusses potentially misleading "eco-friendly" claims on paper and board packaging, plastic coatings are often used for functionalization: e.g., durability, grease-, water-, and gas -resistance; some alternatives exist but are not yet widely adopted or approved for food contact; recommends prioritizing reusable packaging and enforcing policy changes to eliminate PFAS and misleading marketing claims
Topics: paper and board, recycling
Reading time: 2 minutes
November 23, 2023
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
Reading time: 4 minutes
November 6, 2023
Says true circularity for PET bottles in Europe is unobtainable; limited by current mechanical recycling processes and infrastructure; argues that claims of recyclability and recycled content are misleading; calls for more standardized communication practices
Reading time: 2 minutes
