PLASTIC RECYCLING IS NOT THE ANSWER – Consumers Association Penang

A new Greenpeace report “Forever Toxic” shows that plastics pose health threats throughout the recycling stream. Recycling is not a fix for the plastics problem – we need to dramatically reduce plastic production. (IPEN)

Some excerpts from the Greenpeace report:

“Many consumer goods companies, including Nestlé, Unilever, and Coca-Cola, tout the use of recycled plastic in their packaging as an important part of the solution, while failing to achieve significant reductions of overall plastic use, and in some cases increasing plastic use, or meaningful gains in reuse.”

“Dangerous chemicals make their way into recycled plastic materials from a variety of sources. Since nearly all plastics are made from a combination of carbon (mainly oil/gas) and toxic chemicals, the most obvious pathway is direct contamination, as chemicals from the original plastic products simply transfer into recycled plastic. But chemicals can also enter recycled plastics in other ways, due to contamination in the plastic waste stream and the recycling process itself.

“Without dramatically reducing plastic production, it will be impossible to end plastic pollution and eliminate the health threats from chemicals in plastics.