Miljøprojekt, 1103 – Miljø- og sundhedsforhold for plastmaterialer

Miljø- og sundhedsforhold for plastmaterialer

4 Summary

The present report from the project ”Health and environmental aspects of plastic materials” presents information on a broad spectrum of issues that are related to different activities in the life cycle of plastics.

Although the report contains information on activities from cradle to grave it is not a life cycle assessment (LCA). The primary aim of the project has been to establish a knowledge base to be used in the development of standard conditions for environmental permits to Danish plastic processing companies. The focus of the report is therefore the health and environmental aspects that are related to the activities performed by Danish companies and the choices they make in their daily work.

There exist a large number of different plastics, and most of these are probably processed in Denmark. The project focuses on a limited range of these, namely those that are known to constitute the largest volume processed in Denmark. The report thus contains rather detailed information about polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinylchloride (PVC), polyurethane and unsaturated polyester (UP), while plastics like polyamide (nylon, PA), polycarbonate (PC) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) are described in less detail. Where possible and relevant the report also distinguishes between health and environmental properties of different qualities of the main plastics. It is remarked that the amount of available health and environmental information on the “deselected” plastics is very limited, especially with respect to emissions to the working environment and the natural environment during their processing.

The information in the report is predominantly based on international knowledge and experience. The raw materials, additives and processes used in Danish companies are essentially the same as in the rest of World and it was therefore an obvious choice to use the international knowledge to also describe Danish conditions.

Specific Danish knowledge has of course been integrated in the report, where available. This is primarily the case for more formal conditions, e.g. related to the use of certain materials and additives in plastic products, but also Danish knowledge and experiences related to actual processes have been integrated.

Since the primary aim of the report is to present knowledge about a broad spectrum of very different aspects, it does not contain any conclusions as such. It is, however, possible to find information well-documented facts about the following aspects:

Production of plastic raw material, giving a short description of the basic properties of the most common plastics and their production processes as well as an overview of the exchanges with the environment from their production.
Additives, giving an overview of the most common types of additivies together with a short description of specific additives that are known to have an impact on environment and/or human health. Additives are however a rather complex area and the report does not provide a full overview on neither technical nor environmental properties.
Processes, giving a description of the most common processes used in Danish plastic processing companies, e.g. injection moulding, extrusion, thermoforming, blow moulding (all relating to companies processing thermoplastics) and hand lay-up, spray lay-up, pultrusion, PUR-moulding, etc. (relating to companies processing thermo-setting plastics).
Emissions to the working environment as well as the natural environment, giving quantitative information on emissions per kg processed plastic and about the concentration of the chemical substances considered to be most interesting in the original investigations.
Plastic waste, giving an overview of different ways of treatment and how this affects the environment.
Fire properties, giving an overview of which chemical substances that are formed in a fire together with a description of relevant health properties.
Migration, giving an overview of the most imminent problems related to migration of chemical substances from plastic products to the surroundings.
Assessment of impacts on health and environment, describing a set of tools and knowledge sources considered to be operational in specific assessments of e.g. additives and emissions.

As indicated in the short overview above of the contents of the report, many subjects are dealt with on an overall level. This choice was deliberately made with a view to the purpose and target group for the project. Most of the subjects can be examined in significantly more detail, and the report therefore provides suggestions for how to find this information.