Recycled plastic bottles pass more harmful chemicals into contents than new ones, warn researchers

Recycled plastic bottles pass more harmful chemicals into contents than newly manufactured ones, warned researchers.

Over 150 chemicals were found to be passed into drinks from plastic bottles by researchers at Brunel University, London. Around 18 of these chemicals were in levels, which exceeded regulations.

The drinks, which were bottled using recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), contained greater concentrations of chemicals than with those bottled using new PET, the researchers said.

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It may also suggest that the problems with the recycling process may also be causing contamination.

To remove the potentially harmful chemicals, the researchers are calling for better recycling methods.

The researchers also reviewed around 91 studies conducted around the world to look at chemical contamination from plastic bottles.

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Dr Eleni Iacovidou, lecturer, Brunel’s Centre for Pollution Research and Policy, who also led the study, said, “We found these chemicals can come from various sources, such as the catalysts and additives used during production and degradation during PET production, and degradation that can happen across a bottle’s lifecycle.”

The researchers wrote, “This evidence implies that highly recyclable products, such as PET drink bottles, can be inapt for closed-loop recycling when poorly designed, indicating the need for greater adoption of design-for-recycling principles and improvements at the waste-management infrastructure level.”

The research paper has been published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.

(With inputs from agencies)