New Greenpeace Report Calls Out Toxic Hazards of Recycled Plastic as Global Plastics Treaty Negotiations Resume in Paris

Scientific evidence overwhelmingly points to an urgent need to reduce plastic production and use to meet social justice, health and environmental imperatives

May 24, 2023

A new report from Greenpeace USA provides a catalog of peer-reviewed research and international studies concluding that recycling actually increases the toxicity of plastics. It highlights the threat that recycled plastics pose to the health of consumers, frontline communities, and workers in the recycling sector.

WASHINGTON (May 24, 2023)—A new report from Greenpeace USA provides a catalog of peer-reviewed research and international studies concluding that recycling actually increases the toxicity of plastics. It highlights the threat that recycled plastics pose to the health of consumers, frontline communities, and workers in the recycling sector. Along with previous research showing that very little plastic reaches recycling facilities in the first place—less than 9% globally, according to the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)—the report concludes that the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Paris (May 29 to June 2) must focus on capping and then phasing down plastic production.

The report, Forever Toxic: The science of health threats from plastic recycling, notes that, according to UNEP, plastics contain more than 13,000 chemicals, with more than 3,200 of them known to be hazardous to human health. Moreover, many of the other chemicals in plastics have never been assessed and may also be toxic. Recycled plastics often contain higher levels of chemicals that can poison people and contaminate communities, including toxic flame retardants, benzene and other carcinogens, environmental pollutants like brominated and chlorinated dioxins, and numerous endocrine disruptors that can cause changes to the body's natural hormone levels.

Graham Forbes, Global Plastics Campaign Lead at Greenpeace USA, said: "The plastics industry—including fossil fuel, petrochemical, and consumer goods companies—continues to put forward plastic recycling as the solution to the plastic pollution crisis. But this report shows that the toxicity of plastic actually increases with recycling. Plastics have no place in a circular economy and it's clear that the only real solution to ending plastic pollution is to massively reduce plastic production."

At the Paris meetings, formally known as the second Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) meeting for the Global Plastics Treaty, the Greenpeace global network is advocating for an ambitious, legally binding agreement that accelerates a just transition away from a dependence on plastic materials and establishes global controls to regulate toxic chemicals in plastic.

In the lead up to the negotiations, over 100 scientists and civil society groups issued a letter urging the United Nations to prevent the fossil fuel industry from undermining the negotiations. Nearly 30 celebrities including Jason Momoa, Jane Fonda, and Alec Baldwin wrote a letter calling on the Biden Administration to support a legally binding treaty that caps plastic production.

Plastic production, disposal, and incineration facilities are most often located in low-income, marginalized communities across the world, which suffer from higher rates of cancer, lung disease and adverse birth outcomes associated with their exposure to the toxic chemicals. The Treaty should generate opportunities for workers to leave polluting and toxic industries for healthier jobs in a reuse-based economy.

Jo Banner of The Descendants Project, based in the Mississippi River region of Louisiana, said: "Plastics production is inconsistent with healthy, thriving communities, and this report shows that plastics recycling only perpetuates those harms. My region is now known as "Cancer Alley" for the extreme risks of cancer and death due to pollution from plastic producing industries. We are calling on world leaders to negotiate a global plastics treaty that ends plastic production, protects communities like ours and supports a just transition for workers across the plastics supply chain."

The report highlights three "poisonous pathways" for recycled plastic material to accumulate toxic chemicals:

Dr. Therese Karlsson, Science Advisor with the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), said: "Plastics are made with toxic chemicals, and these chemicals don't simply go away when plastics are recycled. The science clearly shows that plastic recycling is a toxic endeavor with threats to our health and the environment all along the recycling stream. Simply put, plastic poisons the circular economy and our bodies, and pollutes air, water, and food. We should not recycle plastics that contain toxic chemicals. Real solutions to the plastics crisis will require global controls on chemicals in plastics and significant reductions in plastic production."

The devastating impacts of the escalating overproduction of plastic heightens the need to accelerate refill- and reuse-based systems—but not with expanded plastic recycling efforts. In addition to the health concerns associated with the use of recycled plastics, the report notes that increased plastic recycling means expanding toxic health and environmental threats throughout the recycling stream, threats that unequally impact the most vulnerable communities.

At the Paris talks, Greenpeace is advocating for a seven-point plan that the Global Plastics Treaty should:

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Contact:

Tanya Brooks, Senior Communications Specialist at Greenpeace USA, (+1) 703-342-9226, [email protected]

Charles Margulis, Communications Director at the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN),

tel./Whatsapp: (+1) 510-697-0615 [email protected]

Greenpeace USA is part of a global network of independent campaigning organizations that use peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future. Greenpeace USA is committed to transforming the country's unjust social, environmental, and economic systems from the ground up to address the climate crisis, advance racial justice, and build an economy that puts people first. Learn more at www.greenpeace.org/usa.

The International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) is a global network of more than 600 Participating Organizations in over 125 countries, primarily developing and transition countries. IPEN works to establish and implement safe chemicals policies and practices that protect human health and the environment, for a toxics-free future for all. www.ipen.org @ToxicsFree