Live from NYC: 2024 Climate Week
Missed New York Climate Week? Our founder Helen Yang was on the ground to capture some highlights.
NYU Langone's Plastics and Human Health Symposium
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Key Takeaways
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NYU Langone's Plastics and Human Health Symposium • Key Takeaways •
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The downfalls of plastics lie not only in the material sustainability (e.g. unrenewable sourcing, low recycling rates), but also in three other areas.
Chemical additives used in plastics,
Emissions during plastics production, and
Microplastics persistent in the human body and environment.
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1 & 2 are much better studied. This PlastChem report and the pie chart below was cited multiple times, showing that many of these chemicals have not only been studied but have been proven hazardous.
Yes, they’re still being used today and yes they can leech into your home and personal care products.
This point was driven home by Dr. Pete Myers' personal story that plastics (and their additives) are everywhere in the NICU, thus exposing preterm infants to phthalates and various other plasticizers.
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Dr. Nihan Karali of UC Berkeley painted a clear picture: even the act of producing plastic itself is a huge source of emissions (~4x the airline industry)! Most of these greenhouse gas emissions occur from the steps prior to polymerization.
Plastic production is projected to increase rapidly through 2050, with an average growth rate of ~3.6% from year 2000-2019. If nothing changes, plastic production may account for 15-31% of the global carbon budget by 2050.
Case study: Director Mike Belliveau of Bend the Curve cited that the production process of polystyrene (PS) plastic generates benzene, styrene, and byproducts such as toluene & xylenes. PS production is shown to drive the production of 60% of all styrene and 30% of all benzene.
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#3 is an emerging field with less data.
While we know that microplastics have made their way into the human body, we await more research on their effects and whether they function mainly as a carrier for hazardous chemicals or if their presence has consequences of its own.
Outside of this symposium, Yale University researchers have already confirmed that microplastics are found in our water, soil, and food. "'There is no part of the globe that does not have microplastics,'" states Dr. Leigh Shemitz.
Conclusion:
Plastics and their endocrine-disrupting chemicals play proven roles in multiple human diseases…
…including diabetes, liver disease, thyroid disease, respiratory issues, autism, brain developmental abnormalities, prostate cancer, and shockingly even more.
Bisphenols, phthalates, and PFAS are particularly well-studied groups in many of these etiologies.
Separately, Safer Made provides a great summary of the toxicity potential for various plastics.
Recycling Spotlight
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Recycling Spotlight •
Not all plastics are equal.
Recycling works great for some types of plastic, but still faces the issue of chemical contamination in the end product. Even if we reach 100% plastic recycling efficiency and circularity, these materials still pose a threat to human health.
This calls into question the human safety of PCR (post-consumer recycled) plastics, which may contain chemicals like pesticides that have been shown to migrate into consumer products*
Let’s zoom in on the latest in plastics recycling:
Polymer producers and consumer packaged goods companies are now facing lawsuits for generating plastic pollution and misleading recycling claims.
Recycling efficacy (USA): only 21% of residential recyclables are being successfully recycled. See this overview from State of Recycling.
The excerpted graphic below shows that paper & glass continue to have the best recycling rates. PET does great, but other plastics don’t.
The US EPA concurs. When looking at total recycled materials in 2018, paper comprises 66.54% while plastic only makes up 4.47%.
Small items usually end up in the landfill. NPR published a consumer-friendly overview of which plastics actually get recycled, and which end up in the trash.
Plastics under 3” in dimensions are treated as trash.
*Maaike Van Gerwen, PhD, Mount Sinai
State of Recycling: Fate of Material by Major Material Category
Solutions
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Solutions •
There is hope. Beyond improving recyclability, we’re also starting to see research on exciting alternative materials to replace plastics altogether. Check out this summary from Safer Made.
NYU’s expert scientists drove home that we shouldn't rush towards partial solutions that may engender even more problems down the line (e.g. bio-based plastics that are molecularly identical to petroleum plastics, but require an even higher temperatures to recycle*).
*Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Collectively, let’s find packaging solutions that are not only sustainable for the planet but also for human health.
If you need a 1:1 plastic replacement (especially for small items that cannot be recycled), reach my team at Clement Packaging.
