Black plastic (Photo – Cheryl-Auger)
Black pigmented plastic is prevalent in many of our everyday products.
By Cheryl Auger
I have black plastic eating utensils, black cooking spoons and spatulas, black beads, and take-out containers with black bases that I normally use for take-out. I even have the black plastic lid tops normally used for take-out coffee. But recently I have been growing concerned with plastic items that are black.
The majority of these use carbon black for their dark pigment. Carbon black can be derived from burning wood or honey but the largest source is from the incomplete combustion of petroleum products like diesel. Carbon black impacts our health causing respiratory and lung disease along with cancer and reproductive issues. And carbon black has a significant impact on the climate crisis. As one of the short-lived climate pollutants, it has a strong warming effect and contributes to our unhealthy air quality at Particulate Matter 2 levels. I also know that our pigmented black plastics are not recycled.
More recently, a new study was published that found black plastic foodware, toys, cookware, and hair accessories contain flame retardants from recycled electronics. It’s a double whammy for black plastics. Flame retardants that were being used in electronic parts and used to manufacture many everyday products were found in 20 products tested by researchers, 17 of which contained toxic chemicals that have been linked to cancer and hormone disruption. The three products containing the highest amount of these chemicals were sushi trays, beaded necklaces, and kitchen utensils. The study was published in Science Direct.
People are being exposed to the chemicals from recycled plastic with flame retardants by ingestion through food absorption like sushi in a black tray and through saliva by sucking on black beads, and inhalation from reactive plastic fragments that are just in the air. These fragments break off microplastic and nanoplastics into the air. The study highlights the concerns with the lack of oversight of recycling. Most plastic recycling happens in third world countries, if it happens at all. The DOE estimates 5-6% of all plastics have been recycled over the last five decades. But even in the 14 or so recycling facilities located west of the Rockies, there is no visibility to the plastic waste collected to be recycled. We don’t know the toxins in any of the source material that made these post-consumer materials that we are using for drinking and eating. But we do know that most likely every plastic made with post consumer material is more toxic and reactive than the plastic that used virgin materials.
Also polystyrene is toxic by itself so using black plastic utensils or take-out drinking lids commonly attached to all to-go coffee cups should be avoided. In fact, in Pasadena, it’s against the law to serve food or beverages in polystyrene.
We need oversight of the recycling process but more importantly, we need oversight of the toxins in our plastics. Or maybe we need to stop recycling.
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