On Tuesday 16 October, the NGO Health and Environment Alliance (HEAL) warned that brominated flame retardants, hazardous chemicals from electronic waste that are known to disrupt thyroid function and cause neurological and attention deficits in children, are contaminating recycled plastics in consumer products across Europe. The NGO bases its warning on the alarming findings of a study that it published the same day.
“Our research found flame retardants chemicals called PBDEs and HBCDs in overwhelming majority of analysed samples. This is worrying as these two chemicals are among the 28 most hazardous chemicals on the planet. The only way to protect people from hazardous chemicals in recycled e-waste is to close the recycling loophole and keep toxic waste out of recycled plastic”, states Jitka Strakova, one of the researchers, in a press release.
The study shows that 109 (25%) of the 430 plastic products analysed (children’s toys, hair accessories and kitchen utensils purchased in 19 European countries) had elevated levels of bromine, an indicator of the potential presence of flame retardant. In addition, out of the 109 samples, nearly half (46%) contained brominated flame retardant at concentrations that would fail to meet the EU regulation (EC 850/2004) on persistent organic pollutants if the product were composed of new plastic rather than recycled plastic.
The study was purposely published upstream of a vote at the European Parliament end October on the re-evaluation of exemptions granted to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in waste and upstream of revision by the European Commission of limit values for POPs. The Commission’s vote and decision will determine whether toxic waste such as electronic waste containing brominated flame retardants will be authorised in recycled plastics.
The countries in which the study was carried out are Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the Czech Republic and Sweden. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)