A 2-year Norway – Switzerland research project is developing a database of chemicals used in plastics. Coordinated by Trondheim University and funded by the Norwegian Research Council, the “PlastChem” project intends to develop an overview of all plastics chemicals, identify and prioritise those which are considered safe (white list) and those of concern and provide guidance to policy making. The project has published an excel file listing more than 16 000 chemicals related to plastics (plastic additives, monomers, chemicals used in processing), by combining seven other data bases, including the UNEP report “Chemicals in Plastics” 2023 (see pinfa Newsletter n°150). PlastChem has sorted these 16 000 chemicals into white, orange, red, watch and grey lists. Over 3 600 chemicals are on the red list, considered by the authors as “of concern” (one or more of PBMT*) and not today internationally regulated. Only 160 chemicals are to date on the white list.
PlastChem has also identified 15 families of chemicals as priorities for action, including chlorinated paraffins but no other flame retardant groups (see PlastChem Report page 4). This database adds to other existing listings and has been developed independently of the ICCA (global chemical industry federation) initiative underway to develop a database of plastics chemicals (see pinfa Newsletter n°157).
PBMT: persistent, bio-accumulative, mobile, toxic
PlastChem project website: https://plastchem-project.org/
PlastChem report, March 2024, M. Wagner et al. http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10701706
Summary of launch webinar (14th march 2024) https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/events/launch-and-panel-discussion-state-of-the-science-on-plastic-chemicals-identifying-and-addressing-chemicals-and-polymers-of-concern/