Abstract
Migration of nonvolatile and inorganic residual compounds from post-consumer recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) submitted to cleaning processes for subsequent production of materials intended to food contact, as well as from multilayer packaging material containing post-consumer recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was determined. Tests were carried out using food simulants. Nonvolatile organic contaminants from PET, determined by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (UPLC-QqQ/MS), showed significant migration reduction as consequence of the more complex cleaning technologies applied. However, contaminants not allowed by Brazilian and European Union regulations were identified even in deep cleaning samples. Results from multilayer HDPE showed a greater number of contaminants when compared to recycled pellets. Inorganic contaminants, determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry were below the acceptable levels. Additional studies for identification and quantitation of unknown molecules which were not possible to identify in this study by UPLC-QqQ/MS are required to ascertain the safety of using post-consumer recycled packaging material.
Highlights
Packaging materials are currently considered an important source of environmental waste mainly due to their large volume fraction in the waste stream
The migration was higher in simulant D than in simulants B and C for both polietileno tereftalato (PET) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) samples
Considering that contaminants come from the post-consumer plastics, these results suggest a dilution effect for the contaminants present in the HDPE samples included recycled pellets (HDPE-R), since the global packaging structure of the HDPE multilayer materials contain other virgin polymers
Summary
Packaging materials are currently considered an important source of environmental waste mainly due to their large volume fraction in the waste stream. The economic packaging sector maintains a high volume of polymeric materials consumption (mainly plastics). Plastic packaging offers several advantages to consumers; it is safe, lightweight, strong, processed and stored, and economical.[1]. The recycling of plastic packaging is one of the most effective methods for decrease the negative effects of waste disposal in the environment. Recycling can be performed using a variety of technologies that employ critical cleaning methods without affecting the chemical structure of the plastic.[2]. Almost all the above techniques have been employed for the recycling of polymeric materials used for food packaging.[1]
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