Report informs Plastics Treaty delegates of problems in plastic recycling and calls for upstream solutions to the plastics crisis
A new report from GRID-Arendal and IPEN finds that three major types of plastic waste that are mostly exempt from global transparency rules pose significant threats to the environment and human health. Cured resins, condensation products, and fluorinated polymers (a type of PFAS “forever chemicals”) have been exempted as they have been assumed to be recyclable, but the report finds that there are significant barriers to recycling these plastics, and thus their waste products should be regulated.
With the Plastics Treaty negotiations commencing this week, the report “Plastic Waste Management with a Focus on Polymers: Cured Resins, Condensation Products, and Fluorinated Polymers” calls for phasing out these plastics and notes that they are incompatible with a circular economy approach and can harm human health and the environment. The groups argue that the three plastic polymers should not be exempt from the Basel Convention prior informed consent (PIC) procedure and should be classified as hazardous waste and controlled under the Basel Ban Amendment, given the hazardous properties of these plastics when they are openly burned, incinerated, or landfilled.
“Given the limitations of applying a circular approach to plastic waste, there is a strong case for regulating plastic production under the Plastic Treaty” said Ieva Rucevska, principal expert at GRID-Arendal.
“Recycling is promoted as the magical solution to the plastics crisis. But our report shows why it is not a feasible solution for many plastics that are often overlooked, such as the PFAS polymers,” said Sara Brosché, PhD, IPEN Science Advisor. “The Plastics Treaty provides a unique opportunity to address these unsustainable materials in all their complexity in a comprehensive manner, including their overproduction and association with toxic chemicals.”
Cured resins, condensation products, and fluorinated polymers are often integral parts of complexly designed industrial and consumer products and face significant challenges for recycling in an environmentally sound manner. Cured resins are rigid thermoset plastics that are often used as glues, for example, when producing plywood. Condensation products are plastics such as polyamides and polyesters, which are often used in clothing or other textiles. Fluorinated polymers are part of the large group of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and are used, for example, to create non-stick surfaces and corrosion-resistant linings in pipes and vessels.
In 2019, amendments to the Basel Convention were adopted to mandate Prior Informed Consent for the export of all plastic waste, and these amendments came into force in 2021. However, exemptions were included for certain types of plastic wastes, including for these three plastic types, as they were assumed to be “…destined for recycling in an environmentally sound manner and almost free from contamination and other types of wastes.”
The new report provides a consolidated review, based on the scientific literature, demonstrating the fallacies behind that assumption. In fact, because they are integral parts of complex products and are not feasible to extract, they are not usually recycled but more typically are burned or landfilled, with potential for significant environmental contamination. For instance, wastes containing urea formaldehyde resins used in fiberboard can leach into subsoil water and lead to the formation of methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
The report also notes the downsides of plastic recycling as a solution to the plastic crisis, including that plastic recycling passes along toxic chemicals in plastics and can create new chemical hazards. Plastic chemical conversion (often called chemical recycling), for example, can create large amounts of hazardous wastes and has proven over decades to be an inherently expensive, polluting, and energy-intensiveprocess.
The report recommends:
- Plastics, including these polymer types, that cannot be produced, used, or recycled in a safe and sustainable manner should be phased out.
- The exemptions from the Prior Informed Consent procedure under the Basel Convention for these polymers should be removed. The three polymer types should be classified as hazardous waste and controlled under the Basel Ban Amendment.
- The polluter pays principle must be implemented as part of a holistic, system-based approach to plastic waste management.
- Plastic chemical conversion (chemical recycling) should not be seen as a viable option for managing plastic waste, as it poses inherent threats to the environment.