https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/publication/59540/forever-toxic-the-science-on-health-threats-from-plastic-recycling/#:~:text=Without%20dramatically%20reducing%20plastic%20production,to%20end%20virgin%20plastic%20production.

https://www.greenpeace.org/static/planet4-philippines-stateless/2023/05/d69e367f-greenpeaceusa_forevertoxic_eng.pdf

The three uncontrollable poisonous pathways of

plastic recycling are:

1. Toxic chemicals in new virgin plastic materials:

When plastics are made with toxic chemicals and

then recycled, the toxic chemicals can transfer into

the recycled plastics.

2. Leaching of toxic substances into plastic waste:

Numerous studies show that plastics can absorb

contaminants via direct contact and through

the absorption of volatile compounds.3When

plastics are tainted by toxins in the waste stream

and the environment and are then recycled, they

produce recycled plastics that contain a stew of

toxic chemicals. For example, plastic containers

for pesticides, cleaning solvents, and other toxic

chemicals that enter the recycling chain can result in

contamination of recycled plastic.

3. New toxic chemicals created by the recycling

process: When plastics are heated in the

recycling process, this can generate new toxic

chemicals that make their way into the recycled

plastics. For example, brominated dioxins are

created when plastics containing brominated

flame retardants are recycled,4 and a stabilizer

used in plastic recycling can degrade to a highly

toxic substance found in recycled plastics.5

Sorting challenges and the presence of certain

packaging components in sorted materials can

also lead to toxicity in recycled plastic. Studies

have shown that benzene (a carcinogen) can be

created by mechanical recycling of PET#1 plastic,

even with very low rates of contamination by

PVC#3 plastic, resulting in the cancer-causing

chemical being found in recycled plastics.