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PAH and POP Presence in Plastic Waste and Recyclates: State of the Art
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This review examines the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and persistent organic pollutants including brominated flame retardants, pesticides, and dioxins in plastic waste and recyclates. The authors conclude that chemical contamination in recycled plastics poses a significant challenge to achieving a safe circular economy for plastics.
The presence of different pollutants in recycled plastics is reviewed in this article. The desirable circular economy of plastics should be linked to the availability of clean recycled plastics with a non-significant and small to nil amount of substances of concern. Different researchers found polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), such as brominated flame retardants (BFRs), pesticides, dioxins and furans (PCDD/Fs and PBDD/Fs) in plastic recyclates. This represents an added difficulty to the effective recycling process of plastics that reduces the demand for energy and materials, in addition to posing a great environmental danger since they represent a vector of accumulation of the contaminants that will finally appear in the most unexpected products. Life Cycle Analysis of the plastic wastes recycling process indicates a great saving of energy, water and CO2 emissions.
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Legacy additives in a circular economy of plastics: Current dilemma, policy analysis, and emerging countermeasures
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This review examines the problem of 'legacy additives' in plastic waste — formerly used substances such as certain flame retardants, stabilizers, and plasticizers now classified as substances of very high concern or persistent organic pollutants — and analyzes the policy and practical challenges they pose for circular economy recycling and reuse systems. The authors evaluate emerging countermeasures to prevent legacy additive contamination from re-entering product supply chains.
Interlinkage Between Persistent Organic Pollutants and Plastic in the Waste Management System of India: An Overview
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This review examined the interlinkages between persistent organic pollutants and plastic waste in India's waste management system, highlighting how improper plastic handling contributes to chemical pollution with detrimental impacts on human health and the environment.
Persistent Organic Pollutants from Plastics: Sources, Environmental Monitoring, Toxicity, and Remediation Strategies
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This study reviews how plastics act as both sources and carriers of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) — including flame retardants, plasticizers, bisphenols, and PFAS — examining how environmental weathering drives their release, bioaccumulation through food webs, and current strategies for monitoring and remediation.
Plastics and persistent chemical contaminants in food waste: challenges for the circular economy
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Researchers reviewed the presence of microplastics, PFAS, flame retardants, and phthalates in food waste, finding contamination levels up to 300,000 particles per kilogram. The study highlights that current food waste valorization methods seldom remove these persistent contaminants effectively, raising concerns about recycling food waste into compost or other products without proper monitoring.
Mitigating persistent organic pollutants from marine plastics through enhanced recycling: A review
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This review examines how persistent organic pollutants such as flame retardants, phthalates, and bisphenol A leach from marine plastic waste into the surrounding environment. Researchers discuss how enhanced recycling methods could reduce the release of these harmful additives by keeping plastics out of the ocean. The study highlights the hidden chemical hazards that plastic debris introduces to marine air, water, and sediment.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.