Evaluation of chemicals leached from PET and recycled PET containers into beverages

Abstract

The use of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) containers, a recent shift in the beverage industry, poses new potential human health concerns including contamination from the original container; use of additives, detergents, and catalysts during recycling; and improper recycling practices. The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate available data regarding: (1) chemicals leached from PET and rPET in bottle form; (2) concentration of these chemicals; and (3) trends between rPET percent and concentration of chemicals leached. This analysis identified 211 scientific articles related to recycled plastic and leachables. Three articles met the inclusion criteria: (1) plastic was in bottle form; (2) plastic was made of PET or rPET; and (3) the study analyzed both PET and rPET using the same methods. This evaluation demonstrated that only nine compounds – benzene, styrene, acetaldehyde, 2-methyl-1,3-dioxolane, furan, bisphenol A (BPA), 2-buta-none, acetone, and limonene – have been studied. Notably, the leachable concentration of benzene, styrene, and BPA increased as the percent of recycled content increased from 0 to 100%. However, 2-methyl-1,3-dioxolane and furan implied a reverse trend, where the leachable concentration decreased as the percent of recycled content increased from 0 to 100%. The concentrations of 2-butanone, acetone, and limonene did not follow any suggested trend. Evidently, recycling PET can lead to changes in the leachables profile. This analysis further identified key areas of research, including testing a variety of liquid types, that need to be addressed to adequately conduct a human health risk assessment.

Hazardous chemicals in recycled and reusable plastic food packaging

“…These concerns about migration of hazardous chemicals and their impacts on human health are especially relevant for plastic food contact materials (FCMs) made from recycled plastics (Geueke et al, 2018;Cook et al, 2023) because unknown and/or hazardous chemicals can accumulate in recycled material and then migrate into foodstuffs, leading to chronic human exposure, as has been shown in the case of beverage bottles made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics (Gerassimidou et al, 2022;Steimel et al, 2022;Tsochatzis et al, 2022). Illicit plastic recycling, where non-food grade plastics containing hazardous brominated flame retardants are used to make FCMs, is prevalent, as data from the European, U.S. and Korean markets reveal (Samsonek and Puype, 2013;Rani et al, 2014;Turner, 2018;Paseiro-Cerrato et al, 2021).…”