UNEP report highlights the chemical hazards of plastic pollution

A report released by UNEP, the United Nations Environment Programme earlier this year offers an in-depth look at the chemicals used to make plastics and the issues these can cause in terms of adverse impacts on human health and the environment as well as on resource efficiency and circularity. According to UNEP, because the health risks associated with the chemicals used to produce or found in plastics - and subsequently released into the environment - tend to be less visible than the waste plastic littering the environment, these fail to receive the attention they merit. This report, entitled “Chemicals in Plastics: A Technical Report” is an attempt to remedy that failure by providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of knowledge on chemicals in plastics.‘Information on chemicals in plastics is rarely transmitted along the plastics life cycle and is therefore unavailable to regulatory authorities, consumers, and waste managers,’ the authors note adding that ‘This lack of information hampers risk assessments and product safety’. Chemicals of concern can be released from plastic along its entire life cycle, during not only the extraction of raw materials, production of polymers and manufacture of plastic products, but also the use of plastic products and at the end of their life, particularly when waste is not properly managed, finding their way to the air, water and soils.The report also aims to support the negotiation process to develop the instrument on plastic pollution based on United Nations Environment Assembly resolution 5/14. It outlines a set of credible and publicly available scientific studies and initiatives focused on chemicals in plastics and the science-policy interface.Chemicals in Plastics: A Technical Report reveals a number of startling findings, including that:

Chemicals of concern have reportedly been found in plastics across a wide range of sectors and products value chains, including toys and other children's products, packaging (including food contact materials), electrical and electronic equipment, vehicles, synthetic textiles and related materials, furniture, building materials, medical devices, personal care and household products, and agriculture, aquaculture and fisheries. Extensive scientific data on the potential adverse impacts of about 7,000 substances associated with plastics show that more than 3,200 of them have one or more hazardous properties of concern.

These findings also have consequences for the circular economy. The use of chemicals of concern in plastics must be addressed, the authors write, as ‘not to hinder the future reuse, repurposing, and recycling of plastic products and polymer streams’. To do so, measures are needed not just to reduce the use of plastics, but also to better regulate the use of - hazardous - chemicals in plastics. More information of the use of chemicals in plastics must be available to stakeholders throughout the industry. ‘Knowledge gaps arise primarily due to a lack of transparency from industrial producers regarding the identities and quantities of chemicals used in different applications, which are typically held back as confidential business information. However, as stipulated in the Dubai Declaration on International Chemicals Management of 2006, “[...] information on chemicals relating to the health and safety of humans and the environment should not be regarded as confidential’, the report states.The report also lists a number of actions to help reduce chemical-related impacts of plastic pollution:

It stresses the the need for capacity building for:

The report was developed by UNEP in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions. UNEP acknowledges the financial support from the Government of Norway, the Government of Sweden and the Government of Switzerland, for the development of the report.

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