Report Everything you (don’t) want to know about plastics

Everything you (don’t) want to know about plastics

2014 Authors: Markus Klar, David Gunnarsson, Andreas Prevodnik, Cecilia Hedfors, Ulrika Dahl Layout: Cecilia Hedfors och Ulrika Dahl ISBN: Produced w ith economic support from Sida. Sida has not participated in the production of the publication and has not evaluated the facts or opinions that are expressed.

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Foreword Few environmental problems are as prominent as that of plastic litter. Almost everywhere you travel you can see traces of human presence in the form of plastic debris. This type of pollution also involves a more subtle but clear problematic aspect – the chemicals hiding in the so often handy material. In a global collaboration funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the following environmental organisations: Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC), EcoWaste Coalition from the Philippines, ESDO from Bangladesh, groundWork from South Africa and ToxicsLink from India, described the plastic's presence and influence at all levels of society, based on each individual organization perspective. In the European Union, the plastic-related problems in general are mostly related to chemical safety and the migration of chemicals from all of the plastic products in our immediate environment, whereas in the Global South, problems with blocked waterways due to the unabated and unconscious use of plastic bags and inadequate waste disposal are higher on the agenda. All five organisations have been designated one chapter each, in which they give their independent point of view about the plastics issue in their society. The content and opinions expressed in theses chapters (annex 1-5), are on the responsibility of each organization, and therefore not necessarily the opinion of any of the other organisations. In this report, you can read about plastic’s many benefits – without plastic, modern society would indeed look very different. However, plastics also have numerous disadvantages, such as toxic substances that may leak out and adversely affect humans and other organisms. Plastic degradation in nature is very slow – a piece of plastic may last for several hundred years. This means that almost all plastic ever produced, still exists in some form in our environment. Around the globe, we find plastic in the form of road-side litter, around dumps, in the ocean, and in the starving bellies of birds. Moreover, when a piece of plastic is torn, small plastic fragments are released, known as microplastics. Environmental pollutants may stick to the microplastics and can thereby be led into aquatic organisms mistaken the plastic particle for food. In spite of some legal improvements regarding management of solid waste, civil society organisations in India, South Africa, the Philippines and Bangladesh witness that the plastic litter related problems persist. One pressing contributory to the problematic wastes are plastic bags, commonly and carelessly disposed by its consumers adding to the increasing volume of waste dumped or burned in dumpsites and landfills, killing of marine animals, clogging of drainage systems worsening already catastrophic flooding situations. A major shortcoming is that existing plastic bag regulations usually is restricted to certain regions and that they are inadequately implemented. In order to gain the full potential positive effects of a ban, EcoWaste Coalition of the Philippines recommends a national plastic bag ban that will phase-out all kinds of plastic bags and promotes the use of locally produced reusable bags using natural fibers. This would help in reducing the country’s over-all waste generation and at the same time boost the local economy. Bangladesh has a similar situation and the environmental organization Environmental and Social Development Organization (ESDO) talks about the three R n, "reduce", "reuse" and "recycle", i.e. advocated reduced use of plastics in general and instead use natural materials, while the plastic used should be reused many times and then recycled.

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Plastic waste is also revealed as a dirty, even downright toxic, source of income prominent in the poorest countries in the Global South. Human health issues, especially children’s health, in developing countries are complex due to absence of knowledge about the effects of chemicals used in plastics. Toxicity and environmental health issues are further compromised by use of recycled plastics for households and children’s product with no or low chemicals safety standards and norms in products. In India for example, approximately 60% of its plastic waste is recycled in the informal sector. However, these people work in very difficult conditions and have no information of the potential hazards of plastics. The Indian NGO ToxicsLink claim there is a critical and urgent need for addressing issues of chemicals in products and demands a higher level of product safety, especially for children. The control over what the plastic industry produces is also a problem. Both in India and South Africa there are many plastic manufacturers, both large and small. At the same time, there is no independent organisation or authority checking that what produced to the market is safe for the consumer. Therefore, groundWork in South Africa advocates a continued increasing legal protection for both workers at plastic factories as well as for consumers. The great variety in the different types of plastics that exist renders it diff icult to make an unambiguously statement which types of plastic should be avoided at home – additives alone, which give different types of plastic their different properties, and which are also prone to leakage, number in the hundreds. It is our opinion that plastic materials, so complex and very common in our homes, should be assessed based on the hazards and inherent properties of the plastic constituents. Parents today are unable to ensure that their children are not exposed to plastic chemicals suspected of being related to for example allergies, asthma, diabetes, obesity or disordered reproductive capacity - that is not acceptable. These are expensive prices to pay, not only at the level of the individual, but also for society. Sweden and the EU are often considered to be at the forefront of environmental protection initiatives, but even so, children living there are not sufficiently protected. Environmental policy must always take as its starting point the protection of children and the unborn – indeed the most vulnerable individuals in society, who are unable to choose to protect themselves against environmental pollutants. SSNC therefore believes there is a need for a strengthened legislation, which restricts the use of the most problematic plastics and plastic chemicals. In this report, we present suggestions for which plastics and plastic chemicals that need to be phased out, primarily from consumer products. We are also putting up proposals on how plastic debris may be reduced. Just because plastics are important materials, it is particularly important to work actively to control and reduce their negative impact on health and environment.

Johanna Sandahl President, Swedish Society for Nature Conservation 3

Delilah Lithner PhD in Environmental science Environmental consultant at COWI, Sweden. PhD-thesis: Environmental and health hazards of chemicals in plastic polymers and products, 2011. University of Gothenburg http://hdl.handle.net/2077/24978 In many ways plastics are fantastic materials which can be used in all kinds of applications, and in several cases they promote human health and the environment. However, the present use of plastics is not sustainable. There are many factors contributing to this, but there are also many possible measures that can be taken to obtain a more sustainable use of plastics. Several plastics are made from hazardous substances, some of which may be released during the life cycle of a plastic product. This diffuse release of hazardous plastic additives, monomers and/or degradation products can cause harm to human health and the environment and needs to be reduced. As a first step, at least the most hazardous substances should be replaced or phased out on a global basis if there is a risk for release and exposure. There are many different types of plastic polymers and more than a thousand plastic additives which result in an enormous chemical diversity. In order to have enough knowledge for safe use of chemical substances, and to facilitate regulation, enforcement and recycling, the chemical diversity needs to decrease. Plastic pollution occurs in different forms and sizes, ranging from large objects to microscopic particles (called microplastics), and is found almost everywhere in the environment, even in the most remote places where it has been transported by wind, water or organisms. Significant amounts of microplastics can for instance be excreted through bird droppings from seabirds who mistake plastic for food. According to Dutch scientists the seabird Cape petrel can break down 75 % of the ingested plastic within a month into smaller, excretable pieces. Extensive littering, in combination with a continuous increase in plastic consumption and a very low biodegradability of plastic materials, is causing large-scale accumulation of plastics in our environment. Plastic pollution is well-known to affect organisms by entanglement or blocking of organs which leads to injuries or death, but the extent to which they are also affected by toxic substances from the plastic material is not known today. Immediate global action and measures to reduce littering are essential to protect our oceans, coastlines, fresh water ecosystems and terrestrial environment from plastic pollution. Many plastics are extremely persistent in the environment and have a very low biodegradability. One example is polyethylene which is commonly used as a packaging material. For short term and singleuse applications there is a need to strengthen development of biodegradable plastic materials that are completely degradable in the environment. This, however, requires measures that prevent biodegradable plastics from entering the recycling routes intended for recyclable plastics.

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Mechanical recycling is possible for many plastics, but globally only occurs to a very limited extent. The profitability is in many cases low since extensive sorting is required to obtain an acceptable quality of the recycled material. Recycling can be problematic because 1) there are so many different types of plastics and a large chemical diversity, 2) many products consist of several different materials, and 3) some plastic products may contain hazardous substances. Recycling can be facilitated by designing products that can be easily recycled, improving systems for collecting and separating recyclable fractions, and banning certain hazardo us substances. In order to save resources, limit global warming, and decrease areas needed for landfill recycling of plastic waste needs to increase. Most plastics are almost exclusively made from fossil raw materials derived from crude oil. More bio based plastics made from renewable feedstock needs to be developed in order to decrease the contribution to global warming, as well as the environmental consequences caused by crude oil extraction and refining. The global annual production of plastics is continuously increasing. In the last 15 years it has doubled, reaching 288 million tonnes in 2012. To decrease the extent of negative effects caused by plastic consumption, the consumption needs to decrease, especially in the industrialised countries. This ca n be achieved for instance by eliminating excessive packaging materials, reducing the production and use of low quality and single-use articles, and changing consumption habits.

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Magnus Breitholtz Professor, Ecotoxicology Institution for applied environmental science Stockholm University Sweden ”Plastic boasts countless valuable areas of application, not least of which is within medical services. A large part of the world’s plastic production (several hundred million tonnes annually) is, however, used for mass consumption single or short term use products. A considerable percentage of the world’s oil production is used to produce plastic, which means that the use of plastic in society entails considerable climatically stress. Despite developed strategies to recycle or incinerate plastic, as to recuperate some of the energy used in its production, the amount of plastic pollutants in the environment is considerable. Given that it takes a very long time for plastic to break down in nature, we can only speculate as to the long-term effects of plastic pollution. Beyond its impact on the climate and the great prominence of plastic litter, plastic can also contain hazardous chemicals. These chemicals can leak and thereby affect both humans and the environment. In certain cases, the use of hazardous chemicals is justifiable, but in many cases, this is not at all so. Unfortunately, controls on the chemicals found in imported plastics are nearly non -existent. The tightened-up monitoring under European law represented by REACH and other regulations is of very limited significance given that a large percentage of the plastic products found in Europe are imported. Chemicals whose use is limited or even banned, therefore find their way into Europe anyway. This is neither reasonable nor sustainable. A more comprehensive approach to chemicals inspection and monitoring must be employed in order to effectively deal with the problem, even if it will be necessary to accept that considerable amendments of our current rules and regulations could take some time. The European Community Regulation on Chemicals and their Safe Use has not been fully implemented, and we must remain optimistic that necessary amendments will be made. Indeed, Europe needs, and can get, a chemical regulation that effectively deals with the leakage of chemicals from imported products. Hopefully, such legislation will also entail improved working conditions in those countries where these items are produced. I would like to conclude with the same point with which I started: hazardous chemicals aside, the use of plastic involves a climate impact and a considerable litter problem. A decrease in the total production of plastic as well as a decrease in the use of plastic will prove a step in the right direction.”

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Table of Contents Foreword...................................................................................................................................... 2 Introduction ................................................................................................................................10 Aim .........................................................................................................................................10 Plastic in Society.......................................................................................................................11 History .................................................................................................................................11 Manufacturing and use .........................................................................................................11 The regulatory framework .....................................................................................................12 The chemistry behind plastic and rubber ...................................................................................15 Types of plastic.....................................................................................................................17 Human health ..........................................................................................................................18 Exposure to chemicals in plastic products...............................................................................23 The effects of substances found in plastic products.................................................................26 The environment......................................................................................................................29 Plastic as waste.....................................................................................................................34 Discussion....................................................................................................................................38 Recommendations ...................................................................................................................41 Polymers and monomers.......................................................................................................41 Additive................................................................................................................................41 Plastic litter ..........................................................................................................................42 Annex 1 .......................................................................................................................................44 The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation ................................................................................45 Plastics in the every-day life of children .........................................................................................45 Introduction.............................................................................................................................46 So, why aren’t we protected?....................................................................................................47 Hazardous substances in plastics ...............................................................................................48 Plastic products in general.....................................................................................................48 Food packaging.....................................................................................................................52 Plastic in the daily life of a child – what to do? ...........................................................................54 Discussion................................................................................................................................66 Annex 2 .......................................................................................................................................68 EcoWaste Coalition ......................................................................................................................68 The Philippine plastic waste problem: Environmental, social, and economic dimensions ..................68

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Introduction.............................................................................................................................69 The plastic industry in the Philippines ........................................................................................71 The role of other key players.....................................................................................................74 Current waste disposal methods and proposed technologies ......................................................76 Alternatives to plastic bag use...................................................................................................79 Industry promoted ‘alternatives’ ...........................................................................................81 Local ordinances and enforcement ............................................................................................82 National Legislation..................................................................................................................86 Conclusion and recommendations.............................................................................................87 Annex 3 .......................................................................................................................................89 Ground Work...............................................................................................................................90 Taking responsibility for plastics in South Africa .............................................................................90 A picture of plastics ..................................................................................................................91 Regulation ...............................................................................................................................92 The plastics industry in South Africa ..........................................................................................94 Upstream: SASOL and DOW Chemicals...................................................................................95 Sasol’s environmental impacts ..................................................................................................97 Midstream: 100s of plastics companies and imports ...............................................................98 Midstream: Plastics in the workplace .....................................................................................99 Using plastics........................................................................................................................99 Removing plastics from the waste stream: a levy on plastic bags ........................................... 101 Downstream: Recycling....................................................................................................... 101 Recycling and reclaimers......................................................................................................... 102 Cleaning up litter.................................................................................................................... 103 Incineration of plastics............................................................................................................ 105 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 107 Annex 4 ..................................................................................................................................... 108 Environmental and Social Development Organization .................................................................. 109 The impacts of plastic pollution in Bangladesh ............................................................................. 109 Introduction........................................................................................................................... 110 Use of Plastics in Bangladesh................................................................................................... 110 Domestic Plastic use in Bangladesh ...................................................................................... 110 Plastic Bags......................................................................................................................... 111 Waste and Disposal of Plastics in Bangladesh ........................................................................... 115 8

Current situation of Plastic waste in Bangladesh ................................................................... 116 Insufficient waste management systems .............................................................................. 117 Climate Change................................................................................................................... 119 Substitution ........................................................................................................................... 119 Biodegradable Plastic.......................................................................................................... 119 Conclusions and Recommendations ........................................................................................ 120 Strategies for reduction of Environmental Impact of Plastics ................................................. 120 Recommendations.............................................................................................................. 121 Annex 5 ..................................................................................................................................... 122 Toxics Link ................................................................................................................................. 123 Plastic menace - a short report on Plastic waste Management in India .......................................... 123 Plastic usage in India............................................................................................................... 124 Growth of plastic use in India .............................................................................................. 124 Plastic waste in India .............................................................................................................. 125 PET Bottles ......................................................................................................................... 126 Polythene Bags ................................................................................................................... 126 Recycling ............................................................................................................................... 127 Recycled Pellets.................................................................................................................. 128 Other Technologies............................................................................................................. 139 Waste to Energy ................................................................................................................. 140 Disposal ............................................................................................................................. 140 Regulatory Framework ........................................................................................................... 140 Laws on Plastic Waste ......................................................................................................... 140 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 142 Annexure ............................................................................................................................... 143 Annex 6 ..................................................................................................................................... 145 Characterization of hazardous chemicals contained in plastics ...................................................... 146 Types of plastic ...................................................................................................................... 148 Rubber .................................................................................................................................. 157 Problematic plastics and rubbers: ........................................................................................ 159 Other plastics and rubbers: ................................................................................................. 159 Additives................................................................................................................................ 160 References................................................................................................................................. 176

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Introduction Plastic materials make life easier for most people living on the planet. Plastics have fantastic properties, for instance being durable, strong, flexible, lightweight, cheap and corrosion resistant, while also effective at isolating heat and electricity. Therefore, plastics are suitable for creating almost any item, something that can be noticed just by looking around in the everyday life. Spending a day trying to avoid touching anything plastic is almost impossible in a modern society. Plastics are present in a myriad of applications of which many are very close to the user, such as the mattress in your bed, the fibers in many of your clothes, food packages, the PVC tubes in medical devices, or the children’s toys of many which they suck upon, just to mention a few. Plastic products are so central in modern society, that a life without plastics is unthinkable. The plastic story, however, contains a paradox – many of the fantastic properties that make plastics suitable to construct almost anything, also give rise to a number of negative effects. In order to obtain the desired characteristics of the plastic item, i.e. soft, flexible, strong, fire resistant, water repelling, etc., different types of chemicals are used, some of which have harmful effects on human health1,2 and the environment3. Moreover, a cheap and ubiquitous material that to around 50 % of its total production volume is used in disposable items 4, and at the same time has a very poor degradability, is not a good combination. This is for example experienced by many seabirds, marine mammals and turtles suffering from suffocation and starvation due to entanglement or ingestion of disposed plastic items 5. Spreading of invasive, alien species is also associated with floating plastic debris5. Furthermore, the effects of so-called microplasticsa have been discussed for more than 30 years, but have attracted an ever-increasing attention in the scientific community during the l ast decade. Regarding the negative effects of plastics, microplastics can be positioned in between the “litter” and “toxic effects” issues. Due to the small size of microplastics, they are found within the circulatory system of, e.g. aquatic life, and thus, both plastic additives as well as POPs b adsorbed to the surface of microplastic debris can interact inside the exposed organism 3. Moreover, the vast majority of the plastics produced today are made from fossil oil or gas, and thus, using plastics adds to global warming. At the same time, the use of plastics may not always lead to higher CO2 emissions as, for example, plastic packages have less weight than most other materials, leading to less fuel consumption during transport.

Aim In this report, we want to present an accessible review of the use of plastics in modern society and its consequences on human health and environment in Sweden, India, the Philippines, Bangladesh and South Africa. We ask if today’s use of plastics is sustainable, and if not, what can be done to promote sustainability. Another ambition is to highlight the huge complexity of the plastics issue in terms of both the complexity of the material and the diversity of the problems associated with plastic materials in use. This complexity makes it difficult to quantify the problem, for example, that of potential toxic stress due to chemicals leaching out from plastic products.

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Microplastics refers to small plastic particles ranging in size from a few millimetres down to micrometres, originating from various indirect erosion processes during the use of plastic items, as well as direct releases, e.g. as plastic abrasive beads used at ship cleaning or as constituents in cosmetic products. See also box 6 by Daniel Hansson. b Persistent Organic Pollutant.

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Plastic materials and products are thus a good example of how diffi cult it is to establish traditional assessments of risks associated with chemicals used in every-day products, which in turn illustrates how current risk-based policies fall short in terms of the objective of a non-toxic environment. This finding leads to our recommendation to give due weight to the precautionary principle in chemical risk assessment and management in order not to jeopardise human health and the environment. As far as possible, we are discussing the general principles, as well as the poten tial solutions to the most crucial problems associated with the use of plastics, namely its toxic effects, and the negative impact of littering. The climatic aspects associated with plastic production, use and waste , falls outside the scope of this report and will only be touched upon briefly. Since the report represents a collaborative effort between the SSNC (Sweden), ESDO (Bangladesh), groundWork (South Africa), EcoWaste (Philippines) and Toxics Link (India), the report focuses on a description of the plastics issue, followed by an independent annex submitted by each organization, in which the most pressing issues related to plastic are described from their respective point -of-view.

Plastic in Society History Natural polymersc, such as rubber, have been used by man for thousands of years, but it was not until the 1800’s that vulcanized rubber was discovered (1839). Additionally, at the same century it became possible to synthesize polystyrene (1839) and polyvinyl chloride (1872). During the first half of the 1900’s, Bakelite was invented (1907), as well as polyethylene (1933) and polyethylene terephthalate (1941). During the 1920’s and 30’s, the first commercial manufacture of plastics began, however, large-scale production did not start before the end of World War II, at which time polycarbonate (1953) and polypropylene (1954) were also discovered 6. Manufacturing and use When plastic use really became popular, during the 1950’s, the annual global production was still less than 1 ton per year. Since then, use has steadily increased each year and in 2011, it reached 280 million tons per year7 . By way of an estimate, approximately 50% of all plastic is produced in Asia, of which about half is produced in China. Production in Europe and North America are approximately on par, making up around 40% of world production. The remaining production is split between South America and Africa7. In 2005, the annual consumption in the industrial world was 100 kg per person per year. This is five times more than in Asia d and ten times more than in Africa. The future annual increase in the consumption of plastic in the wealthiest parts of the world is estimated to be around 4%6. Globally, it is therefore possible to expect a hefty increase in plastic consumption, keeping in time with increasing standards of living as well as rising consumption. There are literally hundreds of different types of plastics, depending on how different polymers and plastic additivese are combined.

c

A polymer is a macromolecule made from smaller units called monomers, which are polymerised (interlinked) into a long chain. d Exclusive Japan e Additives are chemicals necessary for the polymerisation process, for example catalysts and solvents, or to make the finished product its special properties, for example plasticisers, flame retardents or biocides.

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Above all, due to their low cost, the following types of plastic are predominant: polypropylene (PP), low- and high-density polyethylene (L/HD-PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polystyrene (PS) and polyurethane (PU), which together make up 80% of world production8 (fig. 1). In Europe in 2011, more than half of all plastics were used in packaging or building materials, 39% and 21%, respectively 7. Moreover, a large portion of plastic packaging is disposable and is therefore not used for very long. Another very large area of usage is within electronics and the motor vehicle industries. Plastic polymers are also used to produce glues, paints and synthetic fibers for use in textiles. The last-named are not included in the above statistics on plastic products. Textile is a product that is in close contact with consumers, and is therefore an important product category from a health perspective 9. During the past 30 years, the use of, foremost, synthetic fibre has exploded and, in particular, synthetic fibers made using fossil oil as a raw material. In 2011, the global production of synthetic fibre was almost five times that of in 1980, at around 50 million tons per year, of which the largest percentage was polyester (91%) 10, 11. Synthetic fibers constitutes 60% of the total production of fibers, with other synthetic fibers comprising viscose (made from cellulose), in addition to natural fibers such as wool and cotton. Today there are also bio-based fibers such as PLA (Poly Lactic Acid or polylactide). See also Box 1. Plastic fulfils numerous important functions in society and we would be unable to live as we do today without plastic materials. In medical equipment, from blood bags to prostheses, the specific properties of a given plastic determine its application. Plastic can also be advantageous from a health and environmental perspective. Decreased energy use is one such example, where plastic mate rials in various applications have led to great technical improvements. Aside from the use of fossil oil as a natural resource to produce plastic, plastic in many applications entails reduced energy usage and lends to decreased carbon dioxide emissions 6. Plastic’s low weight (in relation to strength) also yields decreased emissions in the transport sector given that plastic replaced glass as a common packaging material, and also replaced metal, formerly used to build vehicles. Certain types of plastic have an inability to conduct heat and/or electricity, thus making them essential isolation materials that help reduce energy loss and enhance product safety. Plastic film increases the shelf life of food, in applications where other packaging material is less appropriate, thus saving on resources and decreasing climate impact. Since plastic does not rust and many of the most common plastics are virtually immune to biodegradation, plastic contributes to the increased durability of certain constructions and, as such, a decreased use of materials, such as trees or metal. Plastic is moreover indispensable in the construction of certain solar cells and in other alternative energy source applications6 . The regulatory framework Regarding plastics, human kind is dealing with a paradoxical situation whereby there are both risks for health and environment as well as major social, economic and environmental benefits related to the use of plastics, factors that are rarely affected with the same economical and regulatory instruments12 . Legislation on plastic should balance between these perspectives and are as in many other areas objected to assessments and trade-offs between different interests 13 .

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Fact box 1 Synthetic fibers Synthetic textile materials can consist of fibers that are very long, so-called filaments, or of staple fibers, where the filament is cut down to short fibers. Today, new types of fibers are still being developed, known as microfibers and nanofibers, allowing for new areas of use. Most people think of clothes and home textiles when they hear ’textile material’, but there are many other areas of application, a fact that has contributed to the increased production of synthetic fibers. Flexible and strong yet lightweight structures can be created with textile materials, sometimes visible to the naked eye, but sometimes not. A thin fabric made of synthetic can function as a carrier of additional layers of plastic such as, for example, in tarpaulins, conveyor belts, hanging walls, floors, gymnastics mats, bags, shoes, furniture cloth/coverings, blackout curtains, etc. The microfiber cleaning cloth is a daily use product that is a good example of the possibilities created by the customization of the properties of synthetic fibers. Another example is different types of machine filters and air filters for use in the home or office. At present, textiles made of syn thetic materials are also used within architecture to create aesthetically pleasing buildings, in geotextiles to strengthen, for example, walls, textile fabrics used in the cultivation of agriculture or ground coverings, and in various types of packaging. We also find fibers and textile structures in various types of composite materials used in cars and airplanes, where, for example, low weight and moldability are desired characteristics. The sport and leisure sector is another area in which synthetic fibers are commonly used, and not only in clothes and shoes, but also in napsacks, footballs, tents, parachute, etc. Considering the use of plastic within textiles, it is not only in the form of fibers that it can be seen, but also as linings/coatings and membranes. Sometimes, different plastic polymers are blended.

Provisions dealing with the management, monitoring and regulation of plastics vary depending on the political and administrative environment in which they were generated, and the international agreements applicable to them14. Thereby, there are also major differences between countries and regions. A complete description of all legal regulations dealing with the entire life cycle of plastic materials would be beyond the scope of this report. Instead, the EU law on chemicals, REACH, has been described in brief in fact box 2. REACH is probably the piece of legislation that can be considered the best current attempt to manage the risks associated with industrial chemicals throughout their entire life cycle. There are a number of important elements within REACH that can be adopted by countries and regions in the process of developing their own chemicals legislation.

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Fact box 2 REACH in brief Regulation 1907/2006 (REACH) entered into force in 2007, with full implementation envisaged for 2022. REACH covers all chemicals that are not covered by other legislations, for example, the Regulation on plant protection products. Until 2022, chemical companies are required to generate information regarding the most commonly used chemicals and through the authorisation process provided for under the regulation, the most hazardous may be restricted. Depending on the quantity put on the market, various data requirements have been laid down with respect to mandatory registration, forming the basis for evaluation, authorisation and restriction. The acronym REACH stands for Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals. Registration All chemicals that are manufactured or imported in quantities of 1 ton or more per company shall be registered and the chemicals industry shall be required to generate basic information. The industry has pre-registered around 145,000 chemicals that may be fully registered by 2018. Evaluation It is the chemicals industry, not tax payers via authorities, which are required to provide data detailing the health and environmental properties of the chemicals they put on the market. The authorities are charged with evaluating the assessments of the industry for the chemicals manufactured or imported in quantities above than 100 tons per company and year. This also applies to those chemicals deemed of very high concern. A decision must then be made as to whether a given chemical needs authorisation (approval) in order to be manufactured or imported. Authorisation Chemicals considered of very high concern must be approved, that is to say, they must be authorized before use. The industry must apply for approval in order to use these chemicals and an approval applies to a specific area of use. The registrant is then required to prove that the chemical can be handled and used safely. Any use other than that it was granted permission for is prohibited. Chemicals of a very high concern are mostly chemicals that are persistent, bio accumulative, carcinogenic, mutagenic or toxic for reproduction, as well as chemicals that disrupt the hormone system. The first step in the authorization process is to decide whether to list such substances at a special so-called candidate list. Restriction Restrictions limit or ban the manufacture, placing on the market or use of certain substances that pose an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment. A Member State, or ECHA on request of the European Commission, can propose restrictions.

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Worth mentioning are the precautionary f and substitution principles g; the consumer’s right to information as to whether a product contains substances of high concern h; as well as that any party that places a chemical or product on the market is responsible for i t being safe to human health and the environment and shall therefore also provide the information necessary to be able to make this judgment. See also fact box 2 on REACH. There are a number of exemptions (regarding waste management i, for example) and other shortcomings in the regulation. For example, chemical groups such as poly-fluorinated chemicals, nanomaterial and endocrine disruptors have intrinsic properties that fall outside the scope of REACH. Nor are chemicals that are produced, used, or imported as individual chemicals or included in products required to be registered, as long as the annual volume is less than one ton per manufacturer/importer, so-called low-volume chemicals. Also REACH’s ability to chemicals between 1 and 10 tons per producer and year are highly questionable as the data requirement for this category is not extensive enough to perform a proper risk assessment.

The chemistry behind plastic and rubber Plastics and rubber are formed by polymers consisting of smaller units known as monomers, which link up (polymerise) in long chains. Polymers can be constructed by one or several different types of monomers15, and different types of polymers can also be blended with one another, in order to obtain the desired material properties 16, for example HIPS (High Impact Polystyrene), a mix of polystyrene and rubber. At present, the vast majority of monomers is produced from petroleum (crude oil/mineral oil) and is therefore non-renewable. Around 4% of the world’s oil consumption is used as raw material in plastic production17, and a similar amount is used as energy manufacturing process 4,12. At refineries, the different hydrocarbons in crude oil are separated out to fractions of different molecular weig hts using distillation18. For plastic and rubber production, the so-called naphtha-fraction is important19 – larger hydrocarbons are “cracked” to create smaller compounds, such as ethene, propene, as well as aromatic compounds such as benzene, toluene and xylene20,21 , which are chemicals used to produce monomers16 . A few years ago, a Dutch research group discovered that ethane also can be produced from natural gas22,23. Also biomass can be used as raw material to form chemicals used to make monomers 21 . However, in terms of volumes of produced plastics and rubber, this alternative is still of limited importance. Socalled ”green” ethene is made from renewable resources in a relatively energy-demanding two-step process, however, a one-step process is under development 24. f

The precautionary principle makes it possible to act in order to avoid potential harm to humans or the environment, without having the complete facts at hand allowing for a full assessment of the risks of a given substance/chemical. g The substitution principle means that a hazardous chemical is replaced by a less the least hazardous alternative. h Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) is a concept from the EU Chemicals Law, REACH. The definition covers chemicals that are classified as being carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction, toxic, environmentally persistent and that accumulate in organisms, or chemicals of equal level concern. i See Annex V in REACH at the webpage of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). http://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/13632/annex_v_en.pdf

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Moreover, there are a number of biopolymers that can be used to produce plastic and rubber in limited quantities, for example natural rubber j, cellulose, starch, proteins and polyhydroxyalkonates (PHA) k, and also synthetic polymers made from biological material, for example, polylactic acid (PLA) l, 1 Fel! Bokmärket är inte definierat. , 25, 26, 27. Except monomers, various additives are added to the manufacturing process of plastics and rubber. Additives are chemicals that are necessary for the actual polymerisation process, or to give the final product its specific desired properties, for example, plasticisers, flame re tardants, heat and UV stabilisers, biocides, pigments, extenders, etc.28. Strictly speaking, solvents and catalysts are not additives, but in practice, they can be included into this group since they fill an important function in the manufacturing process. On the contrary to polymers, that are not particularly reactive and also large in size, which means that they do not penetrate biological membranes and are therefore not considered toxic29, can unreacted monomers or solvents and additives, or degradation products generated by these additives, leak and expose both humans and the environment during the whole life cycle of a product28,30. Several common additives are classified as hazardous according to the EU regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP) m, for example, carcinogenic, mutagenic, toxic for reproduction, harmful to aquatic life, or having persistent negative environmental impacts 31. A specific additives chemical and physical properties; the surrounding environment; if the additive is unbound; its molecular size in relation to the cavities between the polymers; etc., will determine how prone an additive is to leak from a product32,33 . Since thousands of potential additives can be used in plastics and rubber16,34,35 ; the fact that different monomers can be combined in one and the same product; and depending on the polymerisation technique the amount of remaining monomers varies36, it is difficult to make generalised statements about the health and environmental effects of plastics and rubber. Annex 6 presents an overview of common types of plastics and rubber, as well as a selection of monomers and additives that have hazardous properties with respect to the environment and human health. The monomers and additives is mainly identified with the aid of ChemSecs SIN n 2.037 , the Swedish Environmental Management Council’s report on chemicals in plastics 16, and Lithner’s doctoral thesis on plasticFel! Bokmärket är inte definierat..

j

Natural rubber (also known as latex) is rubber based on cis -polyisoprene created by certain plants, foremost the rubber tree Hevea brasiliensis. k Polyhydroxyalcanoates are formed by microorganisms in a fermentation process and is used to produce compostable plastic bags. l A polymer produced by lactic acid such as bacteria produced through the fermentation of starch -rich products such as grains. m CLP (Classification, Labeling and Packaging) is the EU system for hazard labeling of chemi cal substances and mixtures, founded on the UN System - GHS (Globally Harmonized System). n The SIN-list from ChemSec (The International Chemicals Secretariat, an non-governmental organisation) contains chemicals that are deemed to meet the requirements for classification according to the EU Chemicals Regulation REACH, i.e. meets the requirements to be included in the so-called ’candidate list’.

16

In this report, ”hazardous” chemicals are defined as chemicals that are officially classified (in the EU regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP) o) according to the danger codes presented in Table 1 in Annex 6, or according to other sources are defined as: -

SVHC (substance of very high concern) p; an endocrine disrupting chemical; allergenic (sensitising); toxic to aquatic organisms with long-lasting effects.

SVHC stands for Substances of Very High Concern, i.e. substances that have properties that can cause serious and lasting effects on human health and the environment. A Substances of Very High Concern is a substance that 1) meets the criteria for classification as carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic for reproduction category 1 or 2 in accordance with Directive 67/548/EEC on the classification and labelling or category 1a or 1b of the CLP Regulation (Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008), or 2) meet the criteria for being considered as persistent, bioaccumlative and toxic or very persistent and very bioaccumulative, according to the criteria in Annex XIII of the REACH Regulation, or 3) have other principle equally serious features, such as endocrine disruption. We have chosen to not report on chemicals classified as acutely toxic. This decision was made in order to limit the scope of the report. Acute toxicity is foremost a problem f or the working environment and at large accidental/illegal emissions around factories. Focus in the report is chemicals, which are hazardous to the external environment and the health of consumers, because they are present in products. Types of plastic Plastics are usually categorized into thermoplastics, which can be reshaped as they soften up without damaging the polymers when heated, and thermosetting plastics (thermosets), which do not soften and cannot be remoulded when heated 38. The basic structural difference between the two types is that thermosetting plastics have cross-linked polymers, via strong so-called covalent bindings, whereas the polymers of thermoplastic are held together by weaker molecular bonds 16. The weak molecular bonds make thermoplastics recyclable, but at the same time less stable when exposed to heat, oxygen and UV light. The effects of UV light, however, can be counteracted by the addition of various additives. Annex 6 presents an overview of a number of thermoplastic and thermosetting plastics, their monomers and some of the common additives. Use of various types of plastics within the EU in 2010, is presented in the circle diagram in Figure 18 . The consumption of the various types of plastic varies somewhat in different parts of the world, but global consumption largely resembles the distribution in the European Union.

o

CLP (Classification, Labeling and Packaging) is the EU system for hazard labeling of chemical substances and mixtures, founded on the UN System - GHS (Globally Harmonized System). p According to Reach Article 57 and references therein.

17

e

Figure 1: The proportion of different plastics in the EU's plasti c consumption 2010 . Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) 6%, polyurethane (PUR) 7%, polystyrene (PS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) 8%, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) of 12%, high density polyethylene (PE-HD) 12 %, low density polyethylene (PE-LD) and linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) 17%, polypropylene (PP) 19%, and other types of plastics 19%.

Human health To handle the effects caused by the diversity and omnipresence of chemical exposure to humans and the environment, and fully benefit from the advantages of chemical use, is a great challenge to society39,40. Many of the problems that may be related to chemicals is correlated with the increasing trend of consumptionFel! Bokmärket är inte definierat. that mirrors the trends of used amounts of chemicals as well as amounts of produced plastics. Furthermore, many of the chemicals that can be released during the life-cycle of plastic products are hazardous, which in combinati on with the longevity and ubiquity of plastic materials, warrants them further investigation from both health and environmental perspectives. However, as experimental studies exposing humans to environmental contaminants (of course) are not allowed, it is difficult to establish undisputable causal relationships between exposure to the suspected chemicals and adverse effects in humans. Moreover, many of the effects involving hormone related modes of action (see box 5 about endocrine disrupting chemicals), are suspected to be manifested later in life, years or even generations after the occasion of exposure, which makes it difficult to pinpoint the culprit chemical. There are however already overwhelming evidence that exposures to anthropogenic chemicals contribute to adverse effects in animals, such as disorders on reproduction immune system in seals, imposex in gastropods, thinned eggshells in raptors just to mention a few (se 41 and references therein). Although not entirely straightforward, the weight of evidence is building up, indicating that the increasing trend of different types of negative effects among human populations, such as certain types of hormonal cancers; neurological, reproductive and immunological disorders; asthma and allergy; diabetes and obesity, may be attributed to the increasing trend of chemical use 42, 43 44, 45 (see also 46, 47, 48 and references therein).

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Fact box 3 Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) PVC is an example of how plastics may create problems, since risks are found at all stages of its life cycle. In this report, the main problems linked to the three significant phases in a product’s life cycle are discussed. History and use The development of PVC started already in the 1860s, but it was not until 1912 that Fritz Klatte was able to present a complete production process 49 . In the early the 1930s, the industrial production of PVC was already underway in Germany and the U.S., and from the 1940’s to the 1960’s, PVC products were commercialised on the global market 50. While the European market is close to saturation, it is still experiencing considerable growth in North America, and also rapidly expanding in Asia (in China for example, the rate is more than 10% per year) 50. PVC can be found in everything from building material, such as flooring, window frames, cable insulation and water and waste pipes, to shoes and clothing, interior fittings, car components, blood bags and other medical equipment, etc. PVC is widely used in modern society. Risks involved in the manufacturing of PVC The process chemicals used in the manufacture of PVC can pose problems related to health and safety at the workplace. The monomer in PVC, i.e. vinyl chloride, is officially classified as carcinogenic. The classification is based on animal testing and epidemiological q studies51 . The studies have shown, inter alia, a heightened risk of tumours in the liver, lungs, lymphatic and blood systems, as well as a slightly increased risk of tumours in the stomach-gastrointestinal system. Many of the epidemiological studies have looked at workers engaged in vinyl chloride and PVC production q, 52 . One study included references for various psychological problems that could be caused by exposure to vinyl chloride among workers in the PVC industry 53. By far, PVC is the type of plastic that requires the most additives 38. In 2004, 30 million tons PVC was produced and the global consumption of additives in the PVC industry was 2 million tons54 . In 2017, the annual production of PVC is expected to be 49 million tons, according to a study by Global Industry Analysts Inc55 . A few examples of hazardous additives and associated risks are of relevance in this context. In 2004, stabilising agents constituted the largest category of additives in terms of volume, and is often lead based. Even if the use of lead stabilisers has decreased due to substitution with less hazardous metal-based or organic alternatives, lead stabilisers (according to the PVC industry) makes up nearly 50% of the total amount of stabilisers used in PVC 56. Lead is classified as carcinogenic and toxic to reproduction. Other heavy metals are used to produce PVC such as, for example, mercury. In the pro duction of one type of monomer, vinyl chloride, mercury chloride is used as the catalyst. The use of mercury

q

Epidemiological studies are important in risk assessments, since they are trying to find a statistically satisfactory evidence to prove or reject the risk associated with exposure to a chemical, based on a sample of the population.

19

chloride to make vinyl chloride is still common in China, even if certain measures have been taken to decrease the distribution of mercury during the manufacture of PVC57, 58 . Mercury is an acutely nerve-toxic substance which can harm the development of the fetal nervous system and also accumulates in the food web of the ecosystem 59,60,61. Due to high environmental and health hazard posed by mercury, a global convention to limit the use of mercury was finalized in January 2013 (The Minamata Convention), which is now subject to signing and ratification 62 . Several organic additives hazardous to both the environment and human health are also used in PVC, such as plasticisers, phthalates, brominated flame retardants and chlorinated paraffins. Several of these are officially classified as, or are suspected of being, carcinogenic and endocrine disrupting 63,64,65,66,67,68 . For some of the process chemicals, there is a clear relationship between workplace exposure and negative health impacts, for example, reproductive health, whereas for others this type of a relationship is less evident 69. Risks to the consumer posed by PVC The risks associated with products containing PVC are, among other things, related to semi-volatile and volatiler additives, which over time spread to indoor environments. Plasticisers, solvents, flame retardants, residual monomers, as well as degradation products from these chemicals that are related to various health effects have been detected in the air in compartments containing PVC floors, PVC rugs and electronics with PVC components70,71 . One example is that degradation products in certain solvents are believed to contribute to irritation of mucous membranes and foul smell 72,73,74,75 . The additives can also end up in household dust. Indoors, organic chemicals that bind to dust run the risk of becoming persistent and in high concentrations, due to the limited biotic (bacterial) and abiotic (UV light) degradation, as well as a low dilution effect due to limited air volume 76 . Exposure to the additive and residual monomers can occur through inhalation, unintended swallowing of dust (in terms of exposure, the most significant source for dust 77 ), and absorption through the skin, for example, from dust that has landed there 71. PVC is not the only source of some of the chemicals found in dust, for example plasticisers and flame retardants, but PVC does contribute to the overall exposure. In light of the hazardous properties of several of these chemicals and that it is difficult to perform risk assessments, given that domestic environments are not monitored by authorities, PVC can entail large problems. The release of semi -volatile and volatile chemicals can, however, be controlled through regulations applicable to certain products 71 . One for many people unexpected source of exposure to additives from PVC products is that of hosp ital environments, where certain patient groups can be exposed to high levels of plasticisers via tubes and bags used in, for example, intravenous treatments and dialysis 78,79 . In Sweden for example, many hospitals have relatively recently undertaken voluntary programs to phase out such PVC products. Risks related to PVC in the waste cycle Plastic chemicals can enter into the environment through leachate from landfills, as well as in the form of heavy metals and volatile and acidic carcinogenic combustion products when burning PVC. Several studies point to increasing levels of plastic additives, such as flame retardants and plasticisers, in the environment and in organisms 80,81,82,83. The additives can, in varying degree, be traced to PVC. In China, increasing levels of plasticisers have been observed in regions surrounding

r

Volatility describes how prone a chemical is to transform into gas.

20

hot-spots for electronic products recycling 83 . The plasticisers are found, for example, in PVC components in electronics. The risks associated with the additives and their degradation products in the environment are poorly assessed, and several scientific studies have not been able to associate an increased exposure and risk, with carcinogenic dioxins and dibenzofurans (effluents from incomplete combustion of PVC) in populations nearby incineration facilities for mixed waste 84,85,86. It should be mentioned, however, that these studies were performed in wealthy countries, where incineration facilities have the technology to control and minimise the emission of such residual products. In the Global South, waste is often incinerated under much less controlled conditions, and therefore, the likelihood of dispersal of dioxins and other chloroorganic pollutants increases. Given the strong indications that chemical exposures are a global threat to human health 87, it may seem strange that the chemicals issue is not higher on the political agenda. At least within the EU, the manufacturer is obliged to prove that a chemical is safe to human health and environment before putting it on the market. It is obvious; so far the legislation is proven ineffective. The weight of evidence targeting our use of chemicals as having adverse effects on human health, consist of three main parts presented below. 1) An increased and uncontrolled exposure to chemicals: During the second half of the last century, the global chemical production reached about 400 million tons per year in the year 200088 . Within the same time frame, plastics production increased about 100 times to 200 million tons 20117 , and the prognosis is roughly yet another doubling just beyond 2020 (calculated from 89 ). About 145 000 chemicals were pre-registered on the European market in 200890. The numbers on the global market are likely in the same order of magnitude. Tens of thousands of these chemicals are used in the production of consumer articles, many of which are made from plastics, such as toys, TV -sets, furniture and food packaging materials, chemicals that could be emitted and expose humans and environment. Even though it is clear that the amount and number of chemicals circulating in our close environment has increased dramatically over the last 60 years, the effects on health and the environment are unknown for the vast majority of them, and regarding their combined effects virtually nothing is known, except that the combined toxicity of mixture of chemicals is suspected to be greater than the toxicity of the individual components of the mixture 91, the so-called cocktail effect (see box 4). It is difficult to deal with the entire complexity and diffuse exposure of the myriad of chemicals emitted from consumer products, pesticide residues in food, and various combustion processes, etc., both from a legal and scientific perspective 92. An improvement is of utmost importance as the number of circulating chemicals increases, and bio-monitoring programs worldwide provide data showing that we have several hundreds of environmental contaminants in our bodies already before we are born 93, 94 . 2) Studies correlating human disease with chemical exposure are strong indicators of a possible causal relationship between increasing trends of, for example, reproductive tract disorders, heart disease, obesity, and neurological disorders, and the increased use of environmental contaminants, among them plastic additives, such as poly-fluorinated chemicals43, 95, polybrominated diphenylethers96 , phthalates97,98,99 and bisphenol A 100 . A fundamental problem with epidemiological studies, however, is that the chemical exposure in question is usually so thoroughly confounded with other factors like lifestyle choices, private economy, genetics, other chemicals, etc., that it is very 21

difficult to fully prove associations. Moreover, the scaring fact that it is difficult to find a control group is yet another problem. 3) Animals in controlled laboratory studies display similar disorders as those observed in human populations, when exposed to suspected causative agents of human disease. For example, the so called testicular dysgenesis syndrome (TDS) in humans, i.e. reduced sperm counts, testicular germ cell tumours, hypospadiass and cryptorchismt – in humans, resemble the “phthalate syndrome” in rats, for example. The phthalate syndrome is caused by a reduction in the foetal rat testosterone level, and can be induced by phthalate exposure101. Thus, animal testing can establish mechanisms of action, and is another important indirect piece of evidence for a causal relatio nship between chemicals and human disease. Fact box 4 The cocktail effect Monitoring studies in water, as well as in soil, urine and breast milk102,103,104 have unequivocally shown that humans and animals are constantly exposed to various mixtures of chemicals. A review of existing scientific literature on the effects of chemical mixtures, carried out on behalf of the European Commission, unambiguously shows that the negative effects of a given mixture is often greater than that of a single chemical 91, 105. Another remarkable conclusion in this same report is that chemicals at concentrations, so low that they do not exert any effect, nonetheless have a considerable impact when combined in a mixture. Sometimes 0 + 0 + 0 = 3, which is referred to as, ”Something from Nothing”106. The alarming conclusion to be drawn here is that the cut-off value for individual chemicals laid down to protect humans and the environment, probably do not offer sufficient protection. A cut -off value is the estimated concentration that is considered safe with respect to individual chemicals, missing the almost inconceivable complexity of chemical mixtures that humans and the environment are exposed to in real life. Moreover, it is well-known that cut-off values normally get lowered over time, becoming more stringent as the knowledge about the effects increase. Cut-off values should therefore be considered as a rough guide only, and a preliminary measure of safety. At present, the possibilities for making quantitative assessments of unintentional mixtures using existing methods are limited. Current laws and regulations in the EU on chemicals actually limit – with few exceptions – the possibility of assessing the combination effect of chemicals when making decisions on for example restrictions of a given substance. Chemical risk assessments are at present limited to assessing the use of single chemicals, and in the best case scenario, constituting mere exceptions, do they look at the actual product. For example, the highly realistic situation involving the concurrent antiandrogen exposure to phthalates from a PVC floor, PCB in dust and pesticides in food, should not/cannot be assess holistically in combination standpoint. In order to be able to assess and, not to say the least, reduce the effects of all of the types of chemicals that humans and the environment are exposed to at the same time, far-reaching changes will be necessary, at a scientific level as well as within and among existing chemical laws.

s t

Penis developmental defect where the urethral meatus is dislocated to the under side of the penile shaft. A developmental defect marked by the failure of the testes to descend into the scrotum.

22

Exposure to chemicals in plastic products In order for a chemical to harm an organism, the organism must be exposed to that chemical. Uptake of the chemical can occur through the skin, lungs or digestive system. Few people actually stop to think about the fact that this happens all the time, even though their home is full of chemicals – not just household chemicals, cosmetics and medicines – but also in products and fixtures/fittings such as building materials, paints and lacquers, rugs and carpets, furniture, toys, electronic equipment, food and more 9, 107 . The diffusion of, and exposure to, chemicals – many of them considered as toxic from consumer products made from plastic is ubiquitous in specific indoor environments that contain a great deal of plastics and electronics (electronics are to a great part plastic-based), for example, in preschools 108,109,110,111, cars109,110 and offices109,110. This constitutes a considerable part of the chemical load that humans and the environment are subjected to, and is an acknowledged problem112, 113 . Since human beings form part of the ecosystem, we are even indirectly exposed to plastic-related chemicals, for example, through the food we eat. There are a large number of hazardous chemicals in plastic materials found in consumer products and other applications that may be the source of human exposure, through diffusion of loosely bound additives or worn off plastic particles 28,29,Fel! Bokmärket är inte definierat.. There are relatively little data for the majority of these chemicals, but as regards to some phthalates, bisphenol A, some brominated flame retardants and highly fluorinated chemicals, these have been relatively well-investigated and are therefore also the chemicals that this report focuses on. This is due to the fact that not only do these chemicals have various properties with a negative impact on humans and the environment, but also because investigations have shown that a large proportion of the populations are constantly exposed to them 114, 115. The decomposition of organic chemicals in indoor environments is usually limited, due to the low air humidity, the absence of UV light and fewer microorganisms. Air circulation in today’s well-insulated buildings in cool climates is also limited, which contributes to chemicals not being broken down or being aired out as quickly 116 . On the whole, this means that the levels of chemicals in indoor environments are often many times higher than outdoors. More and more, we are coming to grips with the fact that our indoor environments are a significant source of exposure to chemicals 117 . When chemicals are released from gadgets, fittings/fixtures or construction materials in a home, dust functions as a chemical sink that reflects all of the chemicals that one can be exposed to at home 118,119. Polluted dust will be inhaled, or eaten given that it ends up on food, or otherwise consumed since it accumulates in the mucous membranes in the mouth, or when children put dusty fingers and objects in their mouths. It can moreover be deposited on the skin, by means of which lipophilic chemicals from the dust can be absorbed. In the EU, there are restrictions on the use of certain chemicals in certain types of products. The most hazardous phthalates, for example , may not be used in toys, and bisphenol A may not be used to make baby bottles. And yet, since these substances are used in other products, children are often exposed anyway, including, for example, through dust.

23

Exposure to chemicals at home is also affected by the amount of time that a person spends indoors. In industrialised countries, people spend up to 90% of their time indoors 120 . The situation in developing countries and countries with transitional economies is however unclear. Age is another factor that determines the time spent indoors. Small children spend much more time at home than adults121 . Other significant factors include physiology and behaviour. Children spend more time near the floor and in contact with other surfaces where dust is present, and young children also exhibit frequent ”hand to mouth contact”, which means that they are more li kely to ingest dust than adults122 . The skin of children is thinner, and also the surface to body volume ratio is larger than in adults123 . This means that the potential skin uptake of chemicals is larger in children as compared to adults. Dust exposure is more prevalent through consumption than via inhalation 124. As such, plastic chemicals enter our bodies when we breathe, eat or even touch plastic materials 125 . Given direct contact with, for example, textiles, toys or plastic shoes, lipophilic chemicals such as brominated flame retardants and phthalates are absorbed through the skin 119. When eating, humans may be exposed to chemicals that are absorbed from the packaging material into the food. These include for example, phthalates, which may be present in PVC-containing crimping on jar lids or in plastic film, or bisphenol A that is often found in epoxy lacquer, forming the lining of metal-based food packages, such as cans 126 and other food and drink containers like tubes, foil on yoghurt containers and in soda/beer cans127 . It is also possible to consume bisphenol A through food or drink containers made of polycarbonate plastic128 . In addition to food, the dominant source to bisphenol A128 , exposure to bisphenol A occurs through ingestion and inhalation of household du st129. Exposure through inhalation foremost concerns volatile u and semi-volatile chemicals, or via contaminated household dust. Brominated flame retardants can be released from, for example, electronics or furniture and accumulated in dust to which we are then exposed108,119 . Brominated flame retardants are usually present in much higher quantities in indoor air than outside, but for the gr oup polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEv), contaminated food and swallowed dust probably constitute more significant sources of exposure, as inhalation constitutes less than 5 % of daily intake 130. There are also more volatile variants of brominated flame retardants, for which inhalation likely is a more significant110 . Plastic surfaces that have been impregnated with poly-fluorinated compounds repel dirt and water and are therefore used, among other applications, in all -weather jackets, rugs, fabrics and frying pans111,131 . Several analyses on consumer products detected even banned variants w of polyfluorinated compounds131,132. As poly-fluorinated compounds, just like brominated flame retardants, are persistent and have the potential to accumulate in organisms, contaminated food is the main source of exposure. However, exposure through the air, and swallowing and breathing polluted dust, are also significant sources108,111 . Several phthalates are semi-volatile and are more readily inhaled both in their gas form and via dust, than the less volatile variants.

u

A relatively large proportion of the chemical is in gaseous form. Certain PBDEs are either completely or partially banned in, for example, the EU, but are still used in other parts of the world. In the EU and Sweden, the levels are decreasing, but exposure is still a problem there since the substances are persistent, and they are still introduced via the import of products treated with flame retardants, or after being transformed from PBDEs (deca-BDE) still permitted within the EU. w Perfluorooctan sulfonate (PFOS) is listed on the Stockholm Convention's list of banned Persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and is included in the EU restriction Annex, Annex XVII. v

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The dominant pathway of phthalates exposure seems to be through consumption of fatty food such as cheese, milk, butter and meat, but depending on whether the chemical is volatile or not, other sources of exposure are significant 133,134. For young children, the consumption of phthalates from dust is even more significant. For certain phthalates, it represents 95% of the intake, which depends on the fact that young children exhibit different behavioural patterns from adults133,135 . Fact box 5 Environmental pollutants and the endocrine system Hormones constitute a vital part of the body’s internal signalling system, and are also referred to as endocrine substances. The endocrine system plays an important role in the developmen t of the foetus136, 137, in reproduction 138 , behaviour139 and metabolism140, 141. In simple terms, hormones send signals (messages) between cells in different parts of the body, for example in the brain and reproductive organs. An endocrine system involves several stages, including synthesis, secretion, transport, absorption and decomposition/deactivation of the hormone. Different parts of the endocrine system simultaneously affect a process, in a complex and coordinated way, where all of the individual parts are necessary for a perfect resultx. Complexity increases further as the activity and effect of a given hormone varies over time. Sex hormones, for example, are vital for the development of sex characteristics during a narrow time window at the early stages of foet al development142,143 . Any disruption during this process may not be noticeable before puberty, or even later in life. Hormones are functional at extremely low concentrations. For example, the hormone estradiol affects breast cancer cells at 10-13 My, 144. These are levels that are often much lower than those used in standardized testing protocol for chemical risk assessment. In addition, many hormones do not comply with Paracelsus’ old hypothesis that the effect is proportional to the dose. According to Paracelsus, the higher the dose, the greater the effect and the so-called dose-response curve is monotonous. This paradigm is a fundamental assumption within regulatory toxicology and is therefore a huge problem in the risk assessment of endocrine disrupting chemicals. Hormones often demonstrate a non-monotonous dose-response curve, for example as regards the effect (response) at both low and high concentrations (U-shaped dose-response curve) or even turned upside-down, with the greatest impact (response) at intermediate concentrations (inverted U-shaped doseresponse curve) 145, 146 . Among the very large quantity of chemicals that organisms are exposed to, there are many that can interact with the endocrine system to disrupt its normal functioning 147 . Chemical substances that unintentionally and negatively affect the endocrine system are known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC), and are found in a number of products, among them medicines148 , pesticides149 , plastics150, and textiles151 , but also occurs naturally for example in some plants152 . As described above, the endocrine system is a complex, which also means that it is sensitive to external stimuli, and endocrine disrupting chemicals may interfere in many different ways. Many of the specific properties of these substances are not considered in current testing systems, such that human health and the environment are not afforded sufficient protection against chemicals toxic to the endocrine system.

x

Report issued by the SSNC,”Save the Men”. M = Molar. Molar is a measure of the concentration expressed in mol per liter, that is to say, how many molecules are found in a liter of liquid. y

25

The exposure level from products is often so low that immediate (acute) effects rarely are observed. However, low level exposure is highly relevant when it comes to endocrine disruptors since the endocrine system can be affected at extremely low concentrations (see fact box 5). Such so -called ’low dose’ exposure is often considerably lower than the dosages traditionally used in chemicals testing. This data constitutes the foundation in the regulation of chemicals, which raises concerns regarding the chemicals legislation and its ability to protect human health and the environment. Another important factor regarding safety at low doses is the simultaneous exposure of all the chemicals from all the products surrounding us. Even if exposure to one single chemical from one product is limited, and might not cause any negative impacts per se, the total exposure may do so, especially when the chemicals in a mixture are similar and are affecting the same endpoint. Monitoring studies, unambiguously show that humans (and animals) are continually exposed to mixtures of chemicals, and this, of course, applies to all chemicals, not only those found in plastics (see also the fact box 4 on the cocktail effect). Since for example bisphenol A and phthalates, are metabolised and excreted relatively quickly (hours-days), regulatory measures stopping the exposure of these chemicals, would have a relatively fast-acting effect. For the more persistent ones, such as poly-fluorinated compounds and flame retardants, it would take much longer. The effects of substances found in plastic products Of the great number of chemicals found in plastic, we have chosen to describe a handful of them more in detail, namely phthalates, bisphenol A, brominated flame retardants and poly-fluorinated chemicals. These specific chemicals were chosen since they are found in many consumer products and that humans therefore are exposed to them. Additionally, their negative impacts on human health and the environment have been studied relatively well. And yet we would like to be clear in saying that the problem with plastic chemicals cannot be limited to these four chemical groups; available information is simply much more limited for most of the other problematical chemicals. Phthalates Phthalates comprise a large class of substances, and all of them (at least at present) are not considered equally hazardous. The length of the side chain varies among phthalates, thus giving them their different technical properties, whereby toxicity also varies within the overall group. Common to many phthalates is that they are disruptive to the endocrine system, having antiandrogen effects z , given that these chemicals have indeed shown to decrease the production of testosterone in rat foetuses153. For the two most hazardous phthalates, dietylhexylphthalate (DEHP) and di-nbutylphthalate (DBP), decreased AGD (Anogenital Distance aa) and nipple retention 154, as well as changes in testicular development and breast tissue 155, was observed among male rats exposed in the womb and during lactation. Several other phthalates exert similar effects of vary ing degrees (see 107 and the references therein). DEHP and di-n-octylphthalate (DNOP) also affect the thyroid in rats156 , and relatively recently, certain phthalates were linked to metabolic disruptions 157. Effects in humans have also been observed – boys of mothers with high levels of certain phthalates in their urine had a smaller AGD107 , and several studies on men have indicated a relationship between high levels of phthalates in urine and low sperm quality, as well as altered thyroid hormone levels (see 1 and references therein).

z

Anti-androgen substances inhibit the effects of male hormones (androgens). Anogenital Distance. The distance between the genitals and anus. A short distance is a sign of an antiandrogen effect. aa

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Bisphenol A Bisphenol A is an endocrine disrupting chemical that can bind to the estrogen receptor and is therefore primarily considered to have an estrogenic mechanism of action bb. A recently completed study of the effects of Bisphenol A evidenced strong relationships between Bisphenol A and effects on animals: disruption on the development of the nervous system (47 studies), changes in mammary gland tissue and increased sensitivity to breast cancer (13 studies), impact on female reproductive organs including disrupted hormonal cycles, premature puberty and deformed genitals (30 studies), as well as effects on fat metabolism and increased body weight (3 studies) 158 . In monkeys, indeed physiologically very similar to humans, researchers have determined a relationship between Bisphenol A and chromosomal anomalies in babies whose mothers were exposed to Bisphenol A during pregnancy, as well as reproductive problems in several generations 159 . Only a few epidemiological studies link exposure to Bisphenol A with negative effects. However, indicative connections can be drawn between exposure to Bisphenol A and behavioural anomalies of various forms in children, increased rates of miscarriage and obesity 158 . In a newly published study, researchers observed a decreased secretion of testosterone in human embryonal testicle tissue that was exposed to only very low levels (10-8 M) of bisphenol A. The same effect could not, however, be reproduced in rats and mice 100 . The test animals seemed less sensitive, which is remarkable since studies on these species are often used in health risk assessment of Bisphenol A, and most other chemicals for that matter. Poly-fluorinated substances Poly-fluorinated chemicals is a complex group of chemicals of which PFOScc and PFOAdd are the most commonly known due to their negative impact on health and the e nvironment, even if the knowledge about the health and environmental impacts still is limited for the group in general. Polyfluorinated chemicals have one property in common: they are extremely persistent. Some of these chemicals do not appear to degrade at all in natural conditions 160 , which mean that it will take a long time before exposure stops despite a total ban. Another hazardous property is that several of them accumulate in living organisms. Both of these properties, together with the fact that many chemicals in this group are toxic and endocrine disrupting, make them particularly problematical. Antiandrogen properties linked to reproductive abnormalities, such as lowered sperm count, decreased testosterone levels, delayed onset of puberty, testicul ar cancer as well as decreased genital weight in male laboratory test animals have been demonstrated (see 107 and references therein). PFOS and PFOA have a negative impact on the thyroid glandee in laboratory animals (see 46 and references therein). Also in epidemiological studies on humans, a relationship between the prevalence of these chemicals in the body and thyroid disease 161 has been observed. Poly-fluorinated chemicals are also considered to have an effect on human metabolism 157 . Due to their persistence, exposure can occur far away from the source.

bb

Estrogenous substances stimulate the effects of female hormones (estrogen). Perfluorooctane sulfonate. dd Perfluorooctanoic acid. ee The thyroid determines the body’s metabolism and development of the nervous system, amongst other functions. cc

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Flame retardants Flame retardants are a heterogeneous group of chemicals, of which the brominated alternatives are studied the most in terms of their health effects. Many brominated flame retardants are persistent, accumulate in living organisms, and toxic. The group polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have properties classified as of very high concern, so-called PBT substances ff. There are clear indications that PBDEs affect the thyroid gland in animals, for example inducing learning dysfunction and behavioural abnormalities in animals (see 46 and references therein), which strengthens the hypothesis that they can disrupt the development of the nervous system in humans. PBDE is also suspected to play a role in the development of autism 162 and low IQ levels96. Additionally, there is a relationship between testicular changes that increase the risk for testicular cancer in men whose mothers were exposed to PBDE during pregnancy 163 . Main et al. demonstrated that cryptorchidismgg was more common among sons whose mothers had high levels of PBDE in their breast milk 164 , which indicates that PBDEs also have antiandrogen properties 165. TBBPAhh is a brominated flame retardant common in electronic products. TBBPA has been proved to affect thyroid hormone levels in rats166 , and increased womb weight in mice, which indicates that TBBPA has estrogenic activity 167 . Today, there are no restrictions on TBBPA, however. HBCDDii is another type of brominated flame retardant, foremost used in insulation materials (styrofoam, EPS-cellular plastic) in buildings and, to a certain extent, in electronics and certain textiles such as protective gear168 ; it is classified as very hazardous within the EU for its PBT properties; it is also found on the REACH ’candidate list’, and i s therefore being evaluated to determine if there is a safe use. HBCDD has not been as extensively investigated as PBDE and few effects on humans are documented. However, HBCDD does exhibit endocrine-disruptive properties and can affect the development of foetuses in rats. Even the immune system and the thyroid gland are affected, with osteoporosis as a potential secondary effect 169,170 . Conclusion It is becoming more and more evident that plastic chemicals may have negative effects on humans even if it is difficult to fully interpret the results. There are strong indications that, for example, phthalates have negative effects on humans at background levels, but studies that demonstrate effects on humans are still relatively few. As was previously stated, experiments on humans are, fortunately, not allowed. Researchers have instead made reference to investigations performed on volunteers that had been unintentionally exposed to chemicals, in order to establish any links between exposure to these chemicals and any negative effects. Since humans have a relatively long lifespan, problems can develop long after exposure, something that also complicates this issue. Furthermore, normal environmental conditions are, in contrast to the lab environment, uncontrolled and complex, with a number of factors that make it difficult to discern what causes what. Many of the negative impacts that have been demonstrated on lab animals are induced using higher concentrations than those that humans normally are exposed to. On the othe r hand, the vast majority of the studies have been carried out using one chemical at a time exposed during a short

ff

PBT = Persistent, Bioaccumulating , Toxic The testicles do not migrate down into the sac hh TetrabromBisphenol A ii Hexabromocyclododecane gg

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time period, and not the realistic constant exposure to a mixture of chemicalsFel! Bokmärket är inte definierat.. The effects observed in animal tests are often acute, i.e. appears quickly and are noticeable, as compared to what can be expected in humans that have been exposed to low background levels throughout their lives on a daily basis. However, since effects are observed in humans despite the low level of exposure, humans may potentially be more sensitive than laboratory animals. Animal testing can never be referenced as a definitive reason or explanation, but should be seen as a piece in the weight of evidence, that may link the increasing chemical load to the increasing trend of certain disease. Despite some limitations, one can certainly hope that society does not wait for the full understanding and all the links between environmental pollutants and negative effects on humans. Serious negative effects on animals should be enough in order for the precautionary principle to be applied. As described, exposure to chemicals during manufacturing, use and waste disposal in the l ife cycle of plastic material can be a direct health problem. There are, however, also indirect health problems, linked to the inappropriate large-scale use of plastics. As described in the chapters on plastic coming from the Philippines, Bangladesh and India (annexes 2, 4 and 5), there is a strong link between the existence of plastic litter in urban waterways and flooding in connection to regular monsoon rains in the region. Beyond the obvious material costs and acute dangers, flooding is positively associated with a number of water-borne diseases such as cholera, malaria and typhoid fever 171.

The environment The large-scale production and consumption of plastics has existed for around 60 years, but has already caused widespread and long-term changes with respect to the aggregations of materials in various environments 172 . Plastics are generally, as previously mentioned, very persistent to degradation. No one knows how persistent a given plastic will be, but they might be around for a few hundred, even a few thousand years, depending on the environment where they finally end upFel! Bokmärket är inte definierat.. With the exception of materials that have been incinerated, the current assessment is that all plastic that has been disseminated in the environment still remain in some form, either as complete objects, or parts thereof: microplastic or pellets that constitutes waste from plastic production 173,174,175,176. Aside from the collection of plastic waste in the environment being unsightly, it also poses a hazard to animals that can get caught in it or accidentally swallow it 177,178,179,180 . Plastic waste can spread chemicals far and wide in the environment 181,182 ; and finally, it can also function as a carrier for alien species in aquatic environments 183 . Despite nearly 80 % of all plastic litter originating from landbased sources184, in comparison to the marine environment, there are relatively few studies about the effects of plastic litter in land environments, and therefore this is not further discussed in this report. The effects of plastic waste pollution in the environment are further described in fact box 6, Plastic in the sea.

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In this section, we present an overview of five considerably prominent potential sources for the spread of plastic chemicals in the environment, as well as environmental pollutants that plastics circulating in the environment absorb.

Potential sources of distribution of plastic chemicals to the environment include the following: waste water, sludge from sewage treatment plants leakage from landfills, incineration fumes, and local, regional and global transport of chemicals from plastic waste. It is widely known that waste water is a main source of the spread of many chemicals into the environment. Not only industrial production, but also chemicals from households (see below) and plastic materials in water and sewage infrastructure, contribute to the spread of plastic monomers, additives and small plastic particles or pellets to the waste water 185,186,187,188 . The indoor environment is filled with plastic materials that can release residual monomers and additives. A number of investigations, among them some carried out by the SSNC124 and Greenpeace 189,190 , have shown that chemicals that could originate in plastic can also be found in indoor dust. When floor surfaces are cleaned with water, this dust ends up, along with its constituent chemicals, in the water that is flushed into the sewer system. How much this contributes is to the chemical load of waste water is unclear. A Swedish sewage treatment plant, Käppala, purifies waste water from Stockholm and surrounding municipalities, encourage citizens not to empty their scrubbing water in the sink in order to help protect the environment – the purification facility is unable to handle all of the hazardous chemicals in water that has been generated by, for example, electronics, furniture and plastic releasing particles which collect in dust and ends up in dirty water. To the extent possible, they recommend to vacuum clean and then throw the vacuum cleaner bag in the waste fraction for incineration191 . As indicated above, unintentional consumption constitutes the quantitatively largest source of exposure to chemicals from dust 192 and, together with other consumed chemicals (via food, medicines and drinks that have come into contact with plastic and become contaminated), inhalation and skin absorption constitute the source of the body’s total chemical load from plastics. Chemicals alien to the body are eliminated via urine and excrement, directly, degradedjj, or conjugatedkk. Urine and excrement are therefore another source of the plastic chemicals found in sewer systems 193,194,195 . A very large amount of these chemicals are not properly broken down in waste water facilities, and instead pass through the facility and on into the environment. Included in this category, we have phthalates, nonylphenols and BPA, all of which are commonly found in water that arrives at sewage treatment plants196,197 .

jj

Degradation in this case means that the body metabolise alien chemicals into other chemicals that can be more easily degraded and eliminated via urine or excrement. kk Conjugation in this context means that a molecule is bound to the alien chemical to increase its water solubility, so that it can be eliminated via urine and excrement.

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The insufficient chemical purification for certain plastic-related chemicals means that the chemicals also make their way into sewage sludge during the purification processes 198,199. In many countries, sewage sludge is used as plant fertilizers and soil conditioners on arable land, bu t the risks involved with the spread of sewage sludge in the environment is an issue of rising concern in the public debate. In addition to hazardous chemicals that might be found in sludge, there are also plastic and rubber particles200 . As a rough estimate, plastic constitutes around 10% of the total weight of municipal waste, based on estimates provided by a large number of countriesFel! Bokmärket är inte definierat.. Plastics that cannot be recycled or incinerated, is usually sent to a landfill, but where proper waste collection and management systems do not exist, such as in many countries in the Global South, there is a risk of uncontrolled spreading of plastic waste in the environment. A well -managed landfill is refilled with new top material on a daily basis in order to prevent wind and animals spreading the deposited material, and also have systems for the collection and purification of landfill leachate. Leachate is created when rain infiltrates the landfill, percolatesll through the landfill materials and drains the landfill from particles and chemicals. The environment in a landfill is characterised by the absence of UV rays and low acidic levels, which make the degradation of plastics in landfills particul arly slow. This was demonstrated in a laboratory trial where the degradation of PVC in simulated landfill conditions was studied over a period of several years without it being able to observe any measurable changes to PVC polymers 201 . Additives, however, may leak out and break down (partially or completely). A given landfill undergoes various phases during its life -cycle, from acidogen mm to metanogennn, whereby various additives can selectively leach out. Metal compounds, for example, such as certain stabilisers, leach during the acidogen phase 202. Examples of organic additives that have been detected in the leachate from landfills include bisphenol A 203 , flame retardants204 and phthalates205 . Without necessary purification of leachate, the pollutants therein indeed may spread to surface and groundwater. Complete combustion of plastic (polymers and additives) yields carbon dioxide and water, thereby contributing to the greenhouse effect. With the burning of mixed waste, such as household waste, it is nonetheless difficult to reach optimal incineration temperatures for all organic compounds, and metals in the waste may catalyse the formation of a number of various products from incomplete combustion, many of which can be toxic. The scope of this section does not allow a complete review; we have instead opted to discuss a few prominent examples. The incineration of PVC, especially if copper is present, may yield carcinogenic chlorine dioxides and dibenzofurans 206,207. In the Global South, private (household) and open burning of waste is common, even including the burning of PVCcoated electric cables in order to extract the valuable copper thread inside. The low temperature used for burning products in an open fire promotes the creation of dioxins and furans 207 . The burning of PVC, amino plastics and polyurethane (the final two are rich in nitrogen), as well as other nitrogen and sulphur additives also acidifies the flue gases208,209,210 , through the creation of hydrochloric, nitric and sulphuric acid. Acidic flue gases cause acid rain and the nitrogen contributes to the eutrophication of land and water211 . Flue gases from the incineration of plastic can thus be a source ll

’Percolate’ means that a liquid is filtered through a porous material. Acidogen phase is a phase where bacterial decomposition of organic material creates an acidic envi ronment (decreased pH-value). nn Metanogen phase is a phase where the acid in a landfill has been used -up and bacteria that produces methane gas is created. Methane is one of the main components in so-called landfill gas. mm

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of long-range spread of metals and other toxic pollutants as well as bri ng about acid rain. In order to minimize these impacts, costly technology for purification of the flue gases is necessary. UV exposure often makes plastic hard and brittle, and in combination with mechanical abrasion, plastic litter erodes into fine particles in the environment. This has received special attention in the aquatic environment, where the so called microplastic (particles 3 years) consumer articles such as electronic apparatuses and furniture, and the remaining portion is used in relatively durable infrastructure, such as p ipes, cables and building material with a relatively long service life (decades) 4. Since the consumption of products, including 34

plastic products, is constantly on the rise, and is expected to continue to grow f or a definite period of time 230, plastic already constitutes a large portion of waste. Since the 1960’s, the amount of plastic in household waste has increased 70 times in the U.S., whereas the portion of glass, metal and paper has only doubled 231. In many areas in the world, plastic waste is handled/processed inappropriately, or is not disposed of at all. The proportion of plastics varies among the different types of waste, for example from household, construction, the industry, mining, etc. and in general, it is difficult to make comparisons between countries and regions since measurement methods and definitions of waste flows vary 172 . For example, it is often unclear whether the indicated plastic content of a given waste product refers to before or after recycling. Plastics has often been made the symbol of our consumer society, and from this perspective, household waste takes on a certain prominence, since it directs attention to the consumption patterns of the individual. The majority of the plastic waste component of household waste consists of packaging4, the majority of which is designed for one-time or short term use. Plastic packaging is constantly gaining market shares from other packaging alternatives and the relative dominance of plastic packaging is expected to increase 232, placing an increased burden on waste management. Globally, plastics constitute approximately 10 percent by mass of household wasteFel! Bokmärket är inte definierat.. In the EU, this share is around 7 % 233 , whereas in Japan and the U.S., it is – 11234 and 12 %235, respectively. In terms of volume, plastic waste constitutes a considerably large share, around 50% according to some studies 236 . Even the composition of the plastic component in a given item varies considerably among different types of waste. For example, the plastic component of household waste constitutes a smaller share of PVC ss compared to the plastic component in building waste. This is one aspect that must be taken into account when it comes to waste management, since PVC creates organochlorine pollutants, such as dioxins and furans derivatives when incinerated237. Plastic waste management Within the OECD, each person produced an average of around 550 kg of waste each year in 2005. By 2030, this amount is expected to have increased by more than 30%, which can be compared to the expected increase globally of 20% until year 2050231 . Today there are four main ways of handling waste globally; recycling and reuse, incineration, disposal in landfills, and dumping231 . Dumping of waste is more common in the poorest countries, but is not defined as waste treatmen t, and is therefore not discussed here. For more information about dumping, see Appendixes written by Toxics Link, ESDO and EcoWaste Coalition. Within Europe alone tt, 25 million tons of plastic waste was produced in 2010. Of this amount, 41% was sent to landfills, 34% was incinerated and 25% was recycled7. The waste management, and the problems that arise with its different parts, are discussed in more detail in the following sections. Reduce The most simple and the best way to avoid the problems with plastic waste is, of course, to reduce the use of plastics, especially for disposable items and for products where there are alternatives. For example, reduction of food packaging and the ban of plastic bags.

ss

PVC – polyvinylchloride. PVC is particularly common within the construction sector, for example in pipes, 6 since it burns relatively poorly due to its high chloride content – around 57 % by weight . tt Here, correspnding to EU-27 plus Swizerland and Norway.

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Recycle Theoretically, it is possible to reach an almost entirely closed cycle for nearly all types of thermoplasticuu materials4. However, production and infrastructural changes in society will be necessary for the recycled share to grow from present levels. Plastic products, for example packaging, often consist of a blend of different polymers, paper, metal, colourings and other additives that make recovery difficult. Therefore, the entire life cycle of a product must be taken into account already at the design stage. This is sometimes referred to as redesign, with the purpose to prevent waste. At present, the waste, or post-use, stage is almost without exception not considered until landfill mounds and environmental problems already exist4. One necessary condition for the effective recovery of plastics is the existence of a comprehensive infrastructure allowing for the separation and transport of recoverable plastic fractions, including a series of industrial processes in which collected plastic is processed in various ways to ultimately reunite it with the down-stream user in the form of a new product. In rough terms, recovery can be divided into three categories: 1) mechanical processing of the recovered plastic to create a product with properties similar to the original product (for example, recovery of PET bottles); 2) mechanical processing to create a product with less strict requirements in terms of performance than the original product (for example, to produce plastic ties); 3) by chemical means recover the original monomer in order to produce new plastic. The portion of recovered plastics is increasing in various sectors around the world . Within the EU specific directives238 are in place, aimed at decreasing the negative impact of for example plastic packaging material, and which also lay down requirements vv on recovery levels adjusted to the given Member State’s economic capacity. In the EU 15ww around 30% of all plastic packaging was recovered in 2008233 , which can be compared to 7% for the U.S. 239 and 20% for Japan234 during the same year. Incineration In more wealthy countries, there is often a clear trend towards recycling in favour of dumping waste in landfills, but foremost, the trend points towards incineration. The demand of energy makes incineration profitable. One example from Europe is Switzerland, where a large portion of waste is incinerated and the rest is recycled, and practically no plastic at all ends up in landfills, whereas in Cyprus and Malta, around 90% still goes to landfills7,240. Incineration competes with recycling and thus, rather than saving resources, incineration encourages endless extraction of virgin materials for the production of new plastic products . Furthermore, incineration of waste places considerable requirements on the incineration industry and their facility uu

Thermoplastics are held together by intramolecular bonds and can thus be melted without destroying the plastic structure, which is a prerequisite for recycling to occur, unlike thermosetting resins whose s tructure is destroyed when they are melted. vv The requirements cover both material and energy recycling. ww EU 15 consists of Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the UK.

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standards, since organic waste and plastics may contain hazardous chemicals. A review by Greenpeace International shows links between waste incinerators and mortality due to various cancers, as well as a higher incidence of lung disease, congenital malformations and immune system depression368 . Since the vast majority of plastic waste still is of fossil origin, incineration also adds to the carbon footprint. Hence, there are several reasons why society should strive to abstain from this waste management option: 1) Incineration is a waste of resources and competes with recycling. Most of the waste including plastics that are burned in incinerators are produced from our finite resources. 2) Incineration of waste transforms the garbage problem into an air pollution problem which would be more difficult and costlier to deal with. Though modern incinerators are equipped with more advanced pollution detection and control devices, the fact remains that these devices do not adequately prevent the formation of toxic emmissions514 . Burning of discards will liberate heavy metals and other toxic substances present in the waste stream. 3) It still creates a need for landfills. Incineration produces toxic ash that still need s appropriate areas for storage. Landfill Even if the share of waste that ends up in landfills is decreasing in certain countries and regions, for example, Japan, the U.S. and Europe, traditional landfilling, from a global perspective, is still the most common way to process plastic waste 4. Since the total amount of consumed plastic is expected to increase, it is no foolhardy guess that the total amount of plastic that ends up in landfills also will increase. Like incineration, there are several reasons for which society should strive to abstain from this waste management option: 1) It is not resource-effective or sustainable in the long term for several reasons. For example, valuable natural resources are literally buried instead of being reused and it is also cos tly to transport large amounts of waste from cities to landfills. 2) Environmental pollutants in the form of various types of plastic additives, monomers and decomposition products risk polluting surrounding land and water. Particularly in areas with extreme weather conditions, landfills and the infrastructure around these can be a considerable source of the spread of plastic waste. 3) Densely populated areas are starting to experience land scarcity issues, thus creating a run on landfill space. The above sections describe methods to manage waste, which is sort of a way to alleviate symptoms, but offering no particular impact on the reasons for the problem: that is to say, there is little attempt to prevent the creation of plastic waste in the first place. This sort of an approach would require that the entire life cycle for a product is taken into account, both in regarding technical solutions, such as reducing the amount of plastic material in a package, but also through the reduction of consumption in the first place, perhaps the greatest challenge of all 231 .

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Conclusion The persistence of plastic materials, in combination with its extensive use and inadequate handling, are the cause of long-reaching negative environmental impacts, both locally and globally. The current situation involves considerable challenges for our future society, which will involve both decreasing plastic consumption and reducing the variety of plastic types, as well as phasing out our current unsustainable linear from cradle-to-grave flow of products. The aim should be to mimic the logic of our natural never-ending cycles containing only products. That is, a transition from today’s system, which deems products as waste some stage, to a system where waste is a valuable product, for example as raw material to build new products.

Discussion Clearly, the level of technological development in society can largely be ascribed to plastics and its unique properties. The computer with which this report was written would apparently not have been able to be produced without plastics. At least not with the normal performance requirements of a modern PC – light yet durable, it should not burn or give the user electric shocks, and last but not least, it should be reasonably cheap. A conclusion to be drawn is that it would be unreasonable to take a categorical stance against all use of plastics. On the other hand, it is important to reali ze that a great deal of our use of plastic is unnecessary and in many cases may constitute a health risk. A major goal with this report was to highlight the enormous complexity surrounding the plastic issue. We wanted to describe the social, economic and, last but not least, environmental and health related problems associated with our current trends in the use of plastic. The report also looks at the complexity of the actual material. Regarding the latter, the conclusion to be drawn is that the chemistry behind plastic and rubber materials, and the associated additives, is so complex that these materials are impossible to classify according to hazard from a consumer and environmental perspective. Our review has indicated that a number of hazardous chemicals are used to produce plastics and still to exist in the final product (see Annex 6), and furthermore, it is also very difficult to quantify the consumer exposure to these hazardous substances. For example, the use of plastics containing hazardous monomers is potentially harmful, since unreacted monomers may remain in the final product. Unfortunately, it is impossible for the average consumer to know if and how much of such monomers can be found in a given plastic item. One way to limit the risk is to decrease the use of plastics containing the substances of high concern (SVHC), in particular if the material is in contact with food, skin, and the mouth or if it is used as a medical implant. What ultimately determines how hazardous a plastic material is, will largely depend on the additives contained in it, which will vary enormously among products. A plastic material composed of nonhazardous monomers can therefore, because of the additives, be more hazardous than a plastic material made from hazardous monomers. As a common consumer, it is not possible to know the quantity or type of additive within a plastic material. At least within the EUxx, however, the consumer has the right to ask, and demand an answer within 45 days, in the store, if a product contains any of xx

Chemical regulations within the European Union (EU) is mainly used as the point of departure in this discussion since it is considered to be one of the most developed of its kind in the world.

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the substances found on the candidate list. All substances of highest concern are not included on the list, however, so this is only a start. The complexity of plastics has an impact on how chemicals and their application in products are assessed in terms of risk, and the great uncertainties related to that. It is complicated enough to assess the risks just for one chemical, but could be considered relatively uncomplicated in comparison to the nearly impossible task to quantify the risks of a complex product/item, in a scientific and credible way. Plastic materials constitute a good example this problem. Within the EU, chemicals are assessed one by one despite the fact that humans and the environment are exposed to a mixture of chemicals, such as pesticides, industrial chemicals yy, biocides and chemicals in cosmetic products. In recent years, both researchers and authorities have perceived how unreasonable it is to ignore the fact that chemicals do interact with one another, and thereby, also may exert a greater negative impact on biological life than one chemical would. The European Chemicals Agency, ECHA, has compiled a long list of around 145,000 chemicals – and of these, tens of thousands are believed to exist on the market today, which in theory, yields an immense number of combinations difficult to comprehend. As a consequence, it becomes more and more evident that the traditional way of assessing chemical risks is increasingly becoming more averted from the complex exposure situations that constitute reality. This is certainly the case regarding plastic products in particular, consisting of many different components, for which we in many cases are lacking sufficient information. To deal with the problems related to assessment of chemical mixtures, a parallel development of several different methods is currently ongoing, each with its respective advantages and disadvantages. For substances that affect the same physiological function, there are models that seem promising in terms of allowing for an assessment of the total effect, as well as the identification of those substances that are the most problematical when occurring in mixtures241 . In these models, researchers have tested, for example, known plastic chemicals such as bisphenol A and the phthalates DBP and DEHP. In order for this model to work as a reliable tool, how ever, it is necessary to know all the substances in the mixture, or at least the majority of them, and also their respective concentration. In addition, relatively comprehensive knowledge of the toxicological profile for each individual substance will be needed, for example target organs and dose-response relationships. Another alternative is to test the actual chemical mixture, for example a beverage as it is presented in reality/nature, in a simplified biological system. The advantage of this approach is that it does not require a detailed analysis of the chemicals in the mixture. This method also captures any synergisticzz effects between different chemicals. The biological ”response” becomes indicative. An example being that of cell cultures, where the cells react if the mixture is somewhat similar to a sex hormone for example aaa. Biological testing using cell cultures could for example be applicable to the classification of hazardous waste 242 . One difficulty, however, with these simplified models is the yy

Chemicals that are used, for example, to create daily use products Synergism in this context means that the effect of a mixture is greater than if the effect of each single, individual chemical contained in the mixture were added up. aaa The content of plastic and glass bottles, as named earlier in the text, was analyzed this way. zz

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extrapolation from effects in a cell culture to potential risks to human health, as well as determining which tests are relevant to perform. If the constitution of the mixture is unknown, a series of different tests may be necessary to test for specific properties (endocrine disrupting, carcinogenic, allergen, etc.). Moreover, when testing for effects in the environment, the chemical mixture that eventually exposes the organisms in reality will often be different from that in the product. However, as a complement to current methodologies, based on chemical analysis, they can prove valuable. Already today, there are companies that use cell cultivations in their product development in order to screen out plastic materials that leak endocrine disrupting chemicals 243 . There are several reasons for which the study of leakage of endocrine disruptors from plastic packaging is the most practical in terms of methodology, including the following: 1) Plastic contains a number of different chemical substances, along with a pote ntial for leakage to surrounding media. 2) Current legislation does not deal with the risks involved with endocrine disrupting chemicals. 3) It is well-known that endocrine disrupting chemicals may act synergistically 244 . As indicated above, legislation (within the EU) does not satisfactorily deal with endocrine disruptors, which further complicates the situation regarding the risk assessment of plastic, since several plastic chemicals are known endocrine disruptors, for example phthalates, bisphenol A, flame retardants and poly-fluorinated chemicals. Current risk assessments are based on the supposition that cut-off values can be established, below which exposure is deemed safe. Endocrine disrupting chemicals is however often argued in the scientific debate: since effects are observed at such low dose ranges, it is inapplicable to define a cutoff value, also referred to as threshold. Thereby the fundament for risk assessment is flawed for this type of chemicals. Within the EU, efforts are currently underway to generate criteria for endocrinedisrupting chemicals. Promising proposals for credible and scientifically robust criteria exist, both within political and scientific circles, as well as by independent non-governmental organisations. The outcome of the criteria proposals, hopefully finalized by the end of 2013, will be decisive of how endocrine disrupting chemicals will be dealt with in the future, and will likely influence the work on endocrine disrupting chemicals also beyond EU borders. Moreover, endocrine disruptors have been identified as an ”emerging issue” within the SAICMbbb. WHO and UNEP released a report about endocrine disrupting chemicals, which helped to put the issue even higher on the agenda and hopefully moved things in the right direction. Given the considerable uncertainties with respect to current risk assessment, and awaiting improved methodological circumstances, a rapid phasing out of the most hazardous chemicals through substitution is the most credible approach to handle the undesired risks associated with chemicals. Though, substitution must be made with well-studied chemicals that are known to exhibit less hazardous properties.

bbb

SAICM - Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management. The overarching aim of SAICM is to decrease the difference as regards chemicals management in different parts of the world through the creation of a global chemical strategy, in order to, by the year 2020, minimize significant adverse impacts of chemical use and production on the environment and human health.

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There is a risk that a chemical identified as hazardous is exchanged by a similar chemical in the same group, obtaining same technical product properties as the original chemical. However, and this is indeed unfortunate, toxicity profiles are often similar for substances in the same group. One way to avoid unnecessary and demanding (in terms of required resources) substitution where a given alternative has similar properties to the original chemical, is to handle all substances from the same chemical group, in which one or more chemicals have proven to be problematical. For example, there are at least 15 different bisphenols, among which bisphenol A and bisphenol S are perhaps the most commonly known. The remaining bisphenols have been poorly studied and it would be inappropriate to replace bisphenol A with another bisphenol without knowing the consequences. Another example is that of flame retardants in the group polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE), of which all more or less meet the PBT criteria in REACH.

Recommendations This report tries to answer the somewhat theoretical question: ”Is the current use of plastic sustainable, and if not, what can be done to make it sustainable?” Obviously, the answer to the first part of this question is no: the current use – rather, misuse – of plastics is not sustainable, but there is great potential to improve the current situation. Two main problems that have been identified and been made the focus of our report are: toxic effects of plastic chemicals and plastic litter. In addition, today’s large-scale manufacturing of plastic from fossil fuels and the associated production of chemicals, entails major impacts on the climate and on resources. These aspects, however, are beyond the scope of the primary focus of the report and have therefore not been covered to any greater extent. Polymers and monomers Plastic is a polymer, which is built up of monomers. If the monomers are classified as hazardous under the CLP ccc Regulation or according to SIN 2.1ddd, the plastic becomes potentially problematic throughout its life cycle and should be substituted, i.e. either to be built up of harml ess monomers or substituted for another type of polymer. Some problematic plastics made up of hazardous monomers are acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), amino resins, epoxy resins, phenolic resins, polycarbonate (PC) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). A more complete list, with hazard statement codes of the monomers, is given in Annex 6. Additive Additives classified as hazards according to CLP or SIN 2.1, are problematically and needs to be substituted. Since the additives are usually not bound to the polymer, they can migrate to the surface and be released to the surroundings. Therefore, it is often more problematic, at least for the health, if the plastic contains hazard additives then hazard monomers. The most hazardous additives known today are phthalates, bisphenols, brominated flame retardants and poly-fluorinated chemicals. Representatives from each of these four groups of endocrine disrupting substances are in all likelihood found in every home, airborne and bound to dust. A good start for consumers is to, as far as possible; avoid products that contain these substances. Annex 1, Plastics in the every-day life of ccc

CLP (Classification, Labeling and Packaging ) is the EUs harmonization system for labeling of chemical substances and mixtures, based on the UN’s GHS (Globally Harmonized System). ddd SIN stands for ”Substitute It Now” and is a database where ChemSec (The International Chemical Secretariat) has listed substances prone to be regulated according to REACH.

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children, provides some guidance as to what to consider. A calculation made by Chemitecs shows that about two percent of the additives in all the plastic around us are emitted (released) each year245. A majority of the additives emitted in large quantities belong to the groups of plasticizers and flame retardants, which is because these often make up about 30 percent of the plastic weight. A more complete list, with hazard statement codes of additives found in Append ix 6. The PVC case: PVC plastic is created from the carcinogenic monomer vinyl chloride. Moreover, the manufacture of PVC is chemicals intense, and it is the plastic material requiring the most additives of all plastics, to the best of our knowledge. PVC plastic is also problematical from a waste perspective, for example, because it may form carcinogenic dioxins and furans when inappropriately incinerated. It is therefore not advisable to use PVC, which essentially is the only general recommendation regarding plastic we are able to provide, given the current base of knowledge. See box 3 about PVC. More and more scientists are becoming concerned at the negative effects on humans and the environment as a result of exposure to toxic chemicals used in the production of plastics. In light of that, the SSNC (Sweden), ESDO (Bangladesh), groundWork (South Africa), EcoWaste (the Philippines) and Toxics Link (India) have made the following conclusions: -

-

-

-

the precautionary principle should be applied. This means that adequate knowledge of hazard is a precondition for plastics use and that the burden of proof is moved to the proposer/manufacturer, substitution and phasing-out of hazardous additives and monomers used in the production of plastic must occur, in favour of safer and more sustainable alternatives from a health and environmental standpoint, all chemicals in a group with similar properties should be regulated, even if only one of the substances in the group is defined as hazardous of high concern, chemicals listed in Annex 6 to this report should be phased out as soon as possible, in accordance with the substitution principles, a ban on phthalates of high concern should be implemented, primary in consumer products or product in contact with children, bisphenols should be banned from use in materials that come into contact with food and beverages and children, and in the long term in other consumer products like recipes’, companies must accept their responsibility in terms of the reduction of unnecessary plastic consumption, since this can reduce exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals. Above all, there is a potential to decrease the consumption of disposable packaging material, the recycling of plastics must be made more effective. The recyclable component of plastics would increase if plastics did not contain hazardous chemicals, full information about all existing chemicals in consumer products must be required.

Plastic litter The plastic problem is multi-faceted, ranging from sea birds dying of starvation because they have mistaken plastic garbage for food, to the diffuse spread of endocrine disrupting chemicals from consumer products. In countries like the Philippines (see Annex 2), Bangladesh (Annex 4) and India (see Annex 5) the plastic problem is foremost in terms of the situation of litter, which are indeed different from countries in the EU (Annex 1). The problem is mainly due to unconscious use, and 42

insufficient waste management systems of plastic bags and other types of single -use plastic packaging. Compared to countries like Bangladesh and the Philippines, South Africa (see Annex 3) does not describe the littering situation in as equally acute. An effective tax on plastic bags reduced the use by 44% and the regulated recycling of plastic is about 30%. But it is not just the visible plastic litter that is the problem. Micro plastics – coming from such diverse things as the fleece sweater or the facial scrub, to degradation products from all types of plastic gadgets we use – are also a complex problem. Firstly, smaller aquatic organisms can mistake micro plastic to plankton and secondly, pollutants accumulate on micro plastic. Together, this means that the plastic particles and pollutants accumulate up the food chain. Apart from the aesthetic aspects related to the problem of plastic litter, plastic waste is also a problem in the nature on a global scale, from the individual level to the level of populations. The SSNC (Sweden), ESDO (Bangladesh), groundWork (South Africa), EcoWaste (the Phili ppines) and Toxics Link (India) have made the following conclusions: -

-

-

-

plastic consumption must decrease, foremost as regards disposable plastic packaging. This will save resources as it would decrease the use of raw materials and the load on waste management systems, and can be stimulated through legal regulation, recycling systems must be further developed so that the reuse of plastics is favoured before landfilling and incineration, something which would decrease waste amounts and, as such, have an impact on the litter problem. In order for this to be possible, comprehensive substitution plans must be drawn up for a large number of hazardous substances frequently present in plastic. Our waste management systems need further development, for example, there must be increased labelling of plastic products to facilitate sorting, as well as improved technology for material recycling. These measures can be stimulated both through legislative and market-oriented instruments, a reduction in the number of mixed materials used in plastic would increase the volume of recyclable plastic. Clean fractions of the various polymers are necessary for effective recycling without any negative impact on the quality of the material. This can be stimulated through legislative instruments, finally, research within the area of microplastics must be stimulated. It is of particular importance to determine the significance of microplastics as a carrier of environmental pollutants into the food chain, and also to investigate its main sources, in order to be able to undertake the most effective measures.

A third current major problem with plastics is that the main resource used in its fabrication is fossil crude oil. Therefore: -

is it necessary to increase the proportion of plastic made from renewable resources, since this would reduce the climate impact of plastic materials, given that a large portion of plastic waste is currently incinerated. The potential health impacts of chemicals contained therein are, however, the same as for conventionally produced plastic.

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Annex

1

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The Swedish Society for Nature Conservation Plastics in the every-day life of children

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Introduction Plastic materials are very important building blocks in the modern society, and in many different ways, it facilitates everyday life. Plastic is found in everything from refrigerators to computers, clothes and furniture. In many applications, we literally need plastic to survive, such as in plasticbased hospital equipment. Thanks to plastic’s many fantastic properties – it is durable, strong, flexible, light-weight, cheap, insulating and can be produced for basically anything – it is easy to understand why there is a myriad of plastic objects found throughout society, in our daily lives, both at home, in the workplace, and at schools. Not all plastic materials pose problems, but many of them leak hazardous chemicals that may be absorbed by the body. They may thereby yield a negative impact on adults and children. Even the unborn child exposed to anthropogenic and potentially hazardous chemicals. The large variety in plastic materials makes it hard to assess exactly which types of plastic should be avoided at home – if we just consider the additives, we are looking at thousands of chemicals, that give the different types of plastics their specific characteristics. Many people in the society probably reason that “someone must have controlled that the products that can be purchased in a store are safe and not hazardous”. This, however, is not at all the case, and a series of changes is therefore necessary, such as an increased responsibility among companies, improved consumer information and, above all, a more stringent chemicals policy. A number of Swedish decision-makers have acknowledged the problem of toxic chemicals in products. One example is the new strategy for a non-toxic environment, proposed by a parliamentary committee representing seven parties from the Swedish Parliament. Among other things, the proposal contains a new objective to protect children from toxic chemicals. If the strategy becomes real policy or not will depend on how the Swedish Government deals with the proposal. The focus of the proposal from committee is important since children are exposed to higher levels of chemicals compared to adults, and they are at the same time more sensitive as child development involves several highly sensitive phases. This means that the timing of the chemical exposure may be more critical than the level (concentration) of the exposure. And yet nonetheless, current methodologies for risk assessment do not take sufficient account of the specific vulnerability of children to chemical exposures. Children are more exposed than adults, since the indoor environments in which they spend much of their time are often full of toys made of plastic and electronics potentially containing loosely bound hazardous chemicals, which means that the indoor environment in children’s rooms and at preschools are polluted 108, 109, 246,. The top U.S. EPA estimates that the level of air pollution indoors is 2-5 times higher than outdoors 247 . This is due factors important for the decomposition of chemicals, such as UV light, microbial activity and humidity, all of which are reduced indoors248, but also lower indoor air circulation. The proposal from the committee of the Swedish environmental objectives, as well as the Swedish Chemicals Agency’s action plan for a toxic-free everyday life, highlight the importance of decreasing children’s exposure to chemicals. Even if these proposals are reflected in a more stringent chemicals policy, it could take several years before laws on the phasing out of hazardous substances or up to date risk assessments come into force. The time for evident effects due to the improvements is even longer. During this time, children continue to be exposed to hazardous chemicals.

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Manufacturers, importers and users of toxic chemicals, on the other hand, have the possibility of voluntary improvements that eliminate the chemicals that are already known to be hazardous, which can be replaced by less toxic alternatives. Indeed, this applies to the importers of products as well. Similarly, municipalities and county councils can take the lead and decide to undertake construction initiatives without the use of environmental toxicants and to detoxify public environments, for example schools and preschools.

So, why aren’t we protected? There is a clear relationship between increased consumption of products (of which many either entirely or partially are made of plastic) and the use of chemicals. Products of both natural and manmade origin are by definition, made of chemicals. Depending on how tightly the chemicals are bound to the object/goods, the chemicals are able to leak out in varying amounts before being absorbed by humans or other organisms in the surrounding environment. The impact will depend on the properties of the given chemical(s), including, toxicity and capacity for bioaccumulation, the amount (quantity/dose) of the chemical, who (type of organism) is exposed, and the stage in life at which this exposure occurs. In Sweden, chemicals legislation has been around for a long time and the regulations have varied over the years, but the requirements on testing new substances before they are placed on the market have always been low. At the same time, high burdens of proof have been placed on decision-makers, before being able to take retroactive actions to regulate already introduced substances, which’s use, was shown to be risky and hazardous. Since 2007, most industrial chemicals are regulated by the EU regulation on chemicals, known as REACH, which regulates Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals. Importers and manufacturers are supposed to submit information for registration of substances on the market, but in general, the required data is very limited and new substances are assessed one at a time. Subsequent the evaluation, substances with very hazardous properties can eventually become the object of listing on the candidate list, and thereafter authorised and potentially phased-out, a process that takes many years. Under certain conditions a substance may be restricted, but particularly compelling evidence of associated risks is usually needed. Generally, both strong and comprehensive data of risks must exist, as well as clear political majorities in order for a substance to become the object of effective controls. There are currently 138 substances on the candidate li st, which can be compared to the almost 145,000 that were pre-registered according to REACH and the several hundred that, with due reason, were deemed as being of high concern eee (the number of hazardous substances in need of restriction is probably even greater). This shows how ineffective these laws are. As regard to products, REACH is even weaker, in particular, with respect to imported products, the requirements are very low and controls inadequate, despite the fact that a quick survey of a Swedish average home would reveal numerous imported products, often from countries with even less stringent regulation. The fact that plastic materials is found in an apparently endless number of applications, many of which are in close contact to consumers in indoor environments, makes it the material category that probably best illustrates one additional weakness in chemicals legislation, namely, the lack of control of the combined exposure (read more about this in fact box 4, ’The cocktail effect’).

eee

According to the Swedish NGO ChemSec using REACH criteria 626 substances are deemed to be of very high concern

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Due to blatant shortcomings and a slow and weak implementation of regulations, there are many hazardous substances that continue to exist in great quantities, and which are included in entirely common daily products in close contact with consumers. Several of these chemical s, for example phthalates108,249, brominated flame retardants 250 , biocides251 , poly-fluorinated hydrocarbons 252 and bisphenol A 253 which have been shown to be prevalent indoors – in dust, air and food – are found, among other things, to originate in various plastic materials. It is worrisome that many of these plastic chemicals are linked to, for example, the development of certain forms of cancer, disruptions to the reproductive, immune and nervous systems, asthma and al lergies; diabetes and obesity42,43,44,45 (see also 46,47,48 and references therein) and that they are very common in human environments114,115. A specific example is that in France, a 30% decrease in sperm counts has been observed in between 1989 and 2005, and the researchers indicate that chemicals of high concern could be a reason for this 254.

Hazardous substances in plastics There are a large number of hazardous chemicals in the veritable sea of plastic materials in products in close contact with consumers, and other applications that may be sources of human exposure to chemicals. We have chosen to focus on phthalates, bisphenol A, brominated flame retardants and poly-fluorinated chemicals, since these have well-documented deleterious effects on the environment and/or human health. Additionally, all of the aforementioned are endocrine disrupting chemicals. Read more about potential effects of these chemicals in the section on Health, and about the endocrine system and environmental toxicants in fact box 5 above. Below, we describe how these chemicals may expose children. We moreover describe in relative detail food packaging materials as well as toys and child-care articles, since these products categories have their own regulatory system due to the obvious exposure problems. Plastic products in general Phthalates Of the chemical substances found in plastic, phthalates are among the most well-known. Phthalates are produced in large quantities and are used, not only as plasticisers, but also as fragrance carriers in cosmetic products and chemical products such as detergents. Phthalates are not chemically bound to the plastic polymer, which mean that they can easily ”leak” into the surrounding environment, to the air in a child’s playroom or into the food on your table. It is therefore not surprising that children with PVC carpets in their bedrooms have shown to have higher levels of degradation products from the phthalate BBP in their urine, than other children 255. There are many different types of phthalates, but some of the ones that are suspected to be most toxic –are often found in an average household – and are classified as May impair fertility, May cause harm to the unborn child. Following a decade-long debate, some initiatives have been taken to reduce the amount of certain phthalates to which children are exposed on a daily basis. Since 2007, for example, the use of the phthalates BBP, DBP and DEHP was banned fff in toys for children younger than three years old within the EU. Three other phthalates, DINP, DIDP and DNOP are also banned ggg in toys and child care articles, which could be placed into the mouth hhh. fff

The product must not contain these chemicals at concentrations above 0.1% by weight The product must not contain these chemicals at concentrati ons above 0.1% by weight hhh According to EU’s restrictions directive (76/769/EEC). ggg

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These provisions are good but do not come near what would be enough to really protect children. It is difficult to make a 1-year old understand which toys she/he can chew on and which ones that should be avoided. The protection children is limited insofar as children are exposed to phthalates, via air and dust, emitted from, for example, a shower curtain, a fake leather bag, a plastic shoe, etc. Two studies utilizing models for combined exposure show that 15-25% of children in Germany and Denmark were exposed to phthalate levels exceeding the recommended maximum level 256,257 . An example from Sweden is found in the investigation by the Swedish Chemicals Agency from the fall of 2012, in which shoes made of soft plastic were analysed for the presence of hazardous substances. The investigation found some of the most toxic phthalates, such as DEHP, at levels as high as 70% by weight in the examined products 258. The study indeed shows that daily items found in an entirely normal home may contain and that these items usually are purchased with the belief that a product found in a store must have been controlled for toxic substances and therefore is safe. It is remarkable that in this case, the Chemicals Agency only advised sellers to inform consumers that the shoes contained high level of hazardous phthalates – if the consumer were to ask 258 . A recommendation was not even made to sellers to remove the shoes from their shelves, and, what’s more – there are not even legal remedies in place to address the fact that it is currently legal to sell such products – even to children! Phthalates are also a common component in the interior of many cars. Consumers can reduce their chemical load originating in their cars by avoiding parking their car in the sun, where heat from the sun increases the release of volatile substances such as phthalates from the plastic parts in the passenger compartment. Hence, ventilate the compartment for a few minutes, prior using a car parked in the sun. The release of plastic additives increases with rising temperatures, and it is a generally valid assumption based on migration studies that have looked at, for example, phthalates in linoleum floors. The release of phthalates from PVC floors is almost 10 times higher at 35 °C than at 23 °C259 . Brominated flame retardants There are initiatives to reduce the exposure of certain types of brominated flame retardants within the EU. For example, penta- and octa-BDE over a certain concentrations have been banned in chemical products and products within the EU since 2004. A ban on deca-BDE was introduced in Sweden in 2007, but after the Government’s decision, the ban was unfortunately repealed in 2008. Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers ( PBDE) including penta-, octaand deca-BDE are banned for use in electrical and electronic products via the RoHS Directive. DecaBDE may, however, still be used in furniture, textiles and cars. There are many different types of brominated flame retardants, but some of the hazard classifications read May cause harm to breastfed children, May cause harm to the unborn child, May impair fertility. Brominated flame retardants are spread to the environment through leakage from various types of industrial applications and from products such as electronics, textiles and furniture 260. Analyses show that despite bans, human beings and the environment are still exposed to brominated flame retardants261 in several different environments, from the home to the preschool to our cars109 .

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There can be several different reasons for this: 1) brominated flame retardants are persistent and continue to leak from old products that were manufactured before exposure limits were laid down in law109 ; 2) analyses of consumer products show that banned brominated flame retardants can still be found in, for example, toys and electronics 9; 3) recycled material can also contain banned flame retardants262 ; 4) the degradation of deca-BDE to less brominated and more toxic BDEs may occur both in the environment and in the body 263, 264 . It should be mentioned though, that thanks to a decreased use PBDE, as a result of various bans, there is a general trend towards a decrease in breast milk in Swedish women for most types of PBDE265. In a doctoral thesis from 2011, at Stockholm University, the levels of, for example, PBDE in air and in dust from various indoor Swedish environments was studied. The researchers found that the levels of penta-BDE and HBCDD in indoor dust were higher in preschools than in homes 109 . In supplementary analyses to this thesis, a relationship between the levels of certain PBDEs and a given room’s content of electronic equipment, upholstered furniture and foam mattresses 266. Air and dust in car compartments may contain high levels of chemicals, which the ”new car odour” reminds us of. This is due, in part, to the fact that the interior of cars often consists of many plastic components that leak chemicals into the compartment environment, but also due to the fact that the air volume and circulation is low. Studies show that the indoor environment in new cars has the highest decaBDE levels in comparison to other indoor environments 109,110. In an investigation carried out by the Swedish magazine Råd och Röniii from 2012, flame retardants and phthalates were found to exist in very high levels in car seats for children and in baby protective devices 267. Poly-fluorinated chemicals Poly-fluorinated chemicals are used for surface treatment in order to make surfaces repel grease, water and dirt. These chemicals may be used in many different applications, such as impregnated papers and in electronics equipment. However, mostly associated with plastics, is probably their use in synthetic fibers, which are often found in products in close contact to the consumer, such as allweather jackets, furniture fabrics and rugs. According to the products register of the Swedish Chemicals Agency, around 20 tonnes of poly-fluorinated chemicals are used in chemical products in Sweden each year, which is probably an underestimation of total use. Poly-fluorinated chemicals are often used in such small quantities (