Recycling plastic may seem environmentally friendly, but behind the scenes, it’s often marred by unintended environmental consequences.

Cookware, water bottles, and hundreds of other items made from recycled plastic worldwide may contain toxic chemicals harmful to human health, a new study has found.

The findings come as countries, including Canada, and companies aim to boost recycling rates to reduce plastic pollution. However, researchers with the International Pollutant Elimination Network (IPEN) now warn that these measures could inadvertently expose people to toxic substances.

The problem is that most plastic items contain a suite of toxic chemical additives, such as bisphenol-A (BPA) or brominated flame retardants, which can cause endocrine issues and other health problems. While exposure to these chemicals may have been relatively low initially due to the plastic’s first use, it could become subject to far more human contact once recycled into a new product.

For instance, the plastics used inside electronics often contain harmful flame retardants, but they pose a low risk to humans because we interact with them relatively rarely. Yet, once that plastic is melted down into pellets, it could feasibly end up in a recycled water bottle or in cookware where the risk of exposure is higher.

“It is worrisome that we find so many different chemicals in these pellets,” said Sara Brosché, an environmental chemist and IPEN science adviser. “And we don’t have any control over what they are used for.”

The IPEN-commissioned study, which was not peer-reviewed, examined pellets collected from 24 different locations worldwide, made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), a standard plastic used in a wide range of products, including toys and milk jugs. Pellets are tiny plastic beads that manufacturers melt down and use to make new plastic items.

Researchers then tested the samples for 18 chemical additives, at least a dozen of which have confirmed health impacts, including BPA and brominated flame retardants. All the samples contained at least one chemical additive, and the vast majority had more than three.

The findings should be cause for concern, explained IPEN technical adviser Vito Buensante. Only about 10 percent of the world’s plastic waste is currently recycled, but companies and several countries, including Canada, are developing policies to make it more widespread quickly. The key to these efforts is the companies’ ability to source recycled plastic at a low cost.

Currently, that’s a nearly impossible task because new plastic is significantly cheaper than recycled plastic. As a result, most plastic waste is either landfilled, incinerated, or ends up in the environment. Plastics that are recycled are rarely tracked from origin to final product due to the cost.

While IPEN and other environmental groups and scholars argue that efforts to reduce plastic pollution must start by reducing the production of new materials, Buensante noted that ensuring recycling laws created to manage the remaining plastic protect people from harmful chemicals is vital.

“When people say we need more recycling … this is not the recycling we’re looking for,” he said.

To date, there have been relatively few efforts to address the problem, including in Canada. Two international treaties — the Basel Convention and the Stockholm Convention — address the global trade in plastic waste and persistent organic pollutants (POPs), including certain flame retardants.

Most POPs are banned in Canada, including those found in items made from recycled plastics that contain the chemicals, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada’s (ECCC) statement. The country’s international commitments also require it to ensure that when POPs become waste, they aren’t “recovered, recycled, reclaimed, or reused.”

Earlier this year, Canada officially listed plastic as toxic under its environmental laws, a move that is expected to facilitate the future regulation of plastics. ECCC’s efforts have primarily focused on eliminating some single-use plastics — a 2019 election promise from the Liberals — but also include proposals to boost recycling capacity, the ministry wrote.

Still, Canada and other countries need to take more extensive measures, such as creating a system to track plastics from the moment they are produced until they are broken down. Automakers have already developed this type of system, Buensante said. Now, it must become more widespread.

Both researchers also advocate for countries to ban toxic additives in all plastics, thereby reducing the risk of cross-contamination and harm to the environment and human health. IPEN is advocating for countries to include negotiations on banning harmful additives in a potential future international plastics treaty, which is likely to be proposed at the UN Environment Assembly meeting in February 2022.

If implemented, those rules will force us to change how plastic is used. Additives serve specific purposes — such as increasing flexibility or reducing flammability — so a ban would force manufacturers and designers to develop alternative solutions. But the researchers noted it is a small price to pay when it comes to protecting people and the environment.

“No toxic chemicals should be added to plastics,” Brosché said.

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