Is Recycled Plastic Safe for Food Use?

• Published in: Civil Eats [BLOG] pp. 1 - 7
• Main Author: Wilcox, Meg
• Format: Web Resource
• Language: English
• Published: Cotati Civil Eats 27.08.2024
• Subjects: Bottles; Chemicals; Cutlery; FDA approval; Food; Food packaging; Food packaging industry; High density polyethylenes; Human exposure; Meat; Plastics; Polyethylene terephthalate; Polypropylene; Polystyrene; Polystyrene resins; Recycled materials; Recycled products; Shells; Tableware; Toxicity; Trays

Recycled content in food packaging is increasing as sustainability advocates press manufacturers to cut their use of virgin plastic. Since 1990, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the agency responsible for ensuring food contact materials are safe, approved at least 347 voluntary manufacturer applications for food contact materials made with recycled plastic, according to a database on its website. Most studies have focused on recycled PET, which is "not as prone to picking chemicals up," in comparison to other plastics such as recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene, or PP, Geueke said. According to the FDA database of recycled plastic applications, two-thirds of the approvals are for recycled PET, for a broad range of products from drink bottles to clam shell containers for fruits and vegetables to tea bags. Most of the remaining approvals are for recycled PP for products including clam shells, disposable tableware, cutlery, caps, and lids; recycled HDPE for grocery bags, milk and juice bottles, meat trays, and disposable tableware, and recycled polystyrene (PS) for meat and poultry trays and clam shells.