Greenpeace, an environmental organization, has published a report on its website that argues that plastic recycling increases the toxicity of these materials and endangers people’s health. According to scientific research, plastics contain more than 13,000 chemicals, of which more than 3,200 are harmful to human health, according to the United Nations Environment Program.
Greenpeace notes that recycled plastics often contain higher levels of chemicals that can be toxic to people and pollute communities. These compounds include toxic flame retardants, benzene and other carcinogens, brominated and chlorinated dioxins, and numerous endocrine disruptors that can affect the body’s natural hormone levels.
The leader of Greenpeace’s US global plastics campaign, Graham Forbes, says that plastic has no place in a circular economy and that the real solution to tackling plastic pollution is to massively reduce its production. According to Greenpeace, the plastics industry, including fossil fuel, petrochemical, and consumer goods companies, continues to promote recycling as the solution, but this report shows that the toxicity of plastic increases with recycling.
Greenpeace has released this report ahead of the Global Plastics Treaty negotiations in Paris, where they advocate a seven-point plan that includes significantly and immediately reducing plastic production, promoting economies based on refill and reuse, and encouraging waste disposal technologies that do not involve combustion.