Hygienic Assessment of Recycled Polymers for Their Potential Use in the Manufacturing of Children’s Products

Abstract

Background: At present, one of the critical hygienic tasks is to study the potentials of using recycled polymer materials in the manufacturing of modern children’s products and ensuring their chemical safety. Secondary polymer materials are various polymer wastes that have lost their consumer properties but have retained their technological characteristics enabling their reuse as raw materials. A number of significant initiatives on the use of recycled polymers in the production of goods for children and adolescents are already being implemented worldwide. Objective: To assess safety of recycled polymer materials used for the manufacturing of children’s products, including toys. Materials and methods: We studied 96 samples of primary and recycled polymer materials based on polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethylene by performing 4,186 tests using 31 chemical, physical, organoleptic, and toxicology methods. Results: We obtained the results of a comparative study of primary and recycled polymer materials that included determination of migration of 48 volatile and semivolatile organic compounds to the air of environmental (climate) chambers and an aqueous model environment; migration of cadmium, lead, chromium, arsenic, selenium, barium, antimony, and mercury into distilled water; toxicity indices in the air of climate chambers and in aqueous extracts; organoleptic parameters (odor of the sample, odor and taste of the aqueous extract); changes in pH and permanganate index of aqueous extracts, and color fastness to saliva and sweat. Under standard conditions of sample preparation and under all aggravated conditions (e.g., high temperature, long-term exposure, etc.), nonconforming products were not found; in some samples, the levels of chemicals tested were below the limits of detection. We observed no differences between the results of testing primary and recycled polymer materials. Conclusions: We established that the tested samples of recycled polymers based on polyethylene terephthalate and high-density polyethylene are chemically stable and can therefore be recommended for use in the manufacturing of products for children and adolescents on equal terms with primary polymer materials.