How can we trust that plastic is fantastic if producers keep the ingredients secret?

Humans produce over 300 million tons of plastic each year and much of it ends up in the oceans. So much, in fact, that there’s a “plastic continent” floating around in the Pacific Ocean, and – get ready for this – most table salt contains ocean microplastics.

But the plastic problem isn’t just about pollution, even if that’s a big enough issue in itself and frequently covered by the media, such as image friendly beach cleanings and triggering news about plastic bag taxes. In fact, plastic is a problem long before it’s waste.

As always, the devil is lurking in the details. And the details of all plastics are the chemicals they are made of – so called polymers* – whose identities have so far remained hidden.

What most people don’t know is that the chemical part of the plastic problem is actually discussed and decided on during quite unspectular committee meetings, far away from media attention.

CONTINUE READING ON chemsec.org