Food Packaging Forum (FPF) critiques the European Commission’s proposed amendments to regulations on food contact plastics; says suggested threshold for non-intentionally added substances (NIAS) lacks scientific evidence; supports enhanced specifications for migration testing
March 6, 2024
Impacts of plastics across the food system
Policy brief from Scientists’ Coalition discusses how plastics in the food system from farm to table to trash impact human health and the environment; provides suggestions for how UN Plastics Treaty can address the drivers and impacts of food system plastics use
February 14, 2024
Efforts to track plastic flows in EU and Canada
EU Joint Research Centre (JRC) publishes improved model of plastic product flows and recycling in the EU; new model design is easy to update when new information becomes publicly available; Canada consulting on a draft plastic products registry to track plastic flows in the country
January 11, 2024
EDCs in plastics cost the US $250 billion in healthcare annually
Scientists calculate US health care costs caused by a well-studied subset of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in plastics; estimate exposure cost $250 billion in 2018, equivalent to 1.22% of Gross Domestic Product; recommend addressing chemicals of concern in global plastics treaty to reduce disease burden and costs
November 28, 2023
Canadian Federal Court overrules government’s plastics toxicity label
Justice Angela Furlanetto deemed the Canadian Environment and Climate Change Department’s classification of manufactured plastics products as toxic unconstitutional; the federal government is appealing the decision; single use plastics ban is still in effect
November 23, 2023
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
November 13, 2023
Global plastics treaty should include chemical simplification, scientists demand
Highlight reduction of chemicals used in plastics production as one necessary step towards safer recycling, in addition to stricter regulation to increase transparency on plastic producer side and phase out of harmful chemicals; call for inclusion of these obligations in global plastics treaty
October 31, 2023
Why is the global plastics treaty necessary?
Minderoo Foundation scientists publish commentary; to be successful the treaty needs to include a global plastic production cap, limits on single-use plastic production, extended producer responsibility scheme, ban on plastic combustion, and disclosure of all plastic chemicals
October 19, 2023
New database on global plastics laws and policies
Civil society organizations publish database to research, track, and visualize plastic legislation around the world; hope to reach scientists, policymakers, industry, journalists; tool launched in anticipation of the global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Nairobi, Kenya in November
