In March 2022, UN member states agreed on a resolution to begin negotiations on an international, legally binding agreement to end plastic pollution, the Plastic Treaty (FPF reported). Since then several publications have highlighted the diverse effects which the plastics supply chain has on human health and the environment (FPF reported).
In a perspective article, published on November 22, 2022, in the journal Environmental Science and Technology Letters, Zhanyun Wang from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa), St. Gallen, Switzerland, and Antonia Praetorius from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, stressed the importance to integrate all chemicals contained in plastics in the global plastics treaty on plastic pollution.
According to official meeting documents around the treaty, additives hazardous to human health and the environment are included in order to arrive at a safe circular economy of plastics. Wang and Preatorius pointed out that this is not sufficient. Instead, all chemicals present in plastics, including intentionally added (e.g., additives) and non-intentionally added substances (NIAS, e.g., reaction-by-products), which are not chemically bound to the polymer backbone should become an integral part of the plastics treaty. Only then would it be effective.
The authors argued that the wide variety of chemicals in plastics would influence the effectiveness of technical solutions to address plastic pollution. Among the solutions discussed in the article are mechanical and chemical recycling, waste-to-energy, as well as bio-based, biodegradable, and durable plastics. For instance, concerning recycling, “chemicals in plastics may lead to incompatibility of different waste streams, even of the same polymer type, as feedstocks for chemical recycling.” As another example, the authors mentioned biodegradable plastics and that chemicals released during biodegradation may be harmful to the degrading microorganisms.
In their global perspective article, Wang and Praetorius also gave three major recommendations on how to address chemicals in plastics holistically and to end plastic pollution successfully. They suggest “(1) reducing the complexity of chemicals in plastics, (2) ensuring the transparency of chemicals in plastics, and (3) aligning the right incentives for a systematic transition.” The authors hope that these recommendations will be integrated into the global plastic treaty.
Reference
Wang, Z. and Praetorius, A. (2022). “Integrating a Chemicals Perspective into the Global Plastic Treaty.” Environmental Science and Technology Letters. DOI 10.1021/acs.estlett.2c00763
