Experts say that recycled plastics can cause harm to the environment by leaking hazardous chemicals.

Studies show that recycled plastic bottles contain more hazardous substances than new plastic bottles. Plastic bottles that were converted into liquids contained over 150 contaminants. Around 18 people had blood levels above the legal limit.

Researchers warn that recycled plastic bottles can leak more chemicals than new bottles.

Researchers at Brunel University London discovered 150 chemicals in beverages made from plastic bottles. 18 of them found quantities that were higher than the standards.

Pets being observed

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Plastic bottles

They also discovered that beverages made from recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate were more polluting than drinks made with new PET. This suggests that recycling difficulties could lead to contamination. They advocate for more careful recycling in order to eliminate potentially harmful compounds.

The thermoplastic PET, a thermoplastic made from PET, is the third most commonly used plastic in food packaging. Its most common application is single-use beverage bottles.

PET bottles are one the most common forms of plastic trash. This has prompted many attempts to improve PET recycling rates. A recent EU rule requires PET bottles to contain at minimum 30% recycled material by 2030.

PET, on the other hand, is well-known for its high levels of chemical pollutants. These include endocrine disruptors such as Bisphenol A which can cause reproductive problems, cardiovascular problems, and even cancer.

Also read: UN Claims That the Plastic Summit May Be the Most Important Green Deal since the 2015 Paris Accords

Chemical Contamination

(Photo by Nick Fewings, Unsplash).

The researchers examined 91 papers on chemical contaminants from plastic bottles in the world. Brunel’s Eleni Iacovidou was the study’s principal author. She is a lecturer at Brunel’s center for pollution policy and research. She said that chemicals could come from different places, including the additives and catalysts used in PET manufacturing as well as the degradation that occurs over the life of a bottle.

According to the study, a technique known as “super cleaning”, which uses a three-stage process to clean plastics before recycling, including a high-temperature wash and a gas wash. This can be used to reduce the amount of chemicals found in bottled beverages.

The study suggests that a process called the “super cleaning”, which cleans plastics in three stages before recycling, a high temperature wash, a gas washing, and a chemical was, may be used in order to reduce the amount chemicals in bottled drinks.

Cleaning the Bottles

The recycling process includes cleaning the bottles before using them as secondary material. Innovative super-cleaning technologies are available to increase the likelihood of decontaminating recycled PET at levels comparable to virgin PET.

According to Iacovidou the best solution to the problem is for society not to use PET at all.

Everyone has a part of the blame. She suggested that we should all start to think about how to reduce the use of PET bottles in our homes and learn how to properly dispose of plastic trash.

If we reduce our PET consumption, they will push change further up the chain. In the first instance, less demand means lower output.