What is black plastic, and is it suitable for disposal? Let’s learn more!

A study last year found that black plastic, used to make kitchen peelers, takeout boxes and cooking spatulas, contained toxic flame retardants that could be hazardously leaking into food. But the researchers had to issue a correction after it was found that they had overlooked one of the hazardous chemicals' levels in the study.

Black plastic: what is it?

Black plastics tend to contain higher unregulated amounts of toxic chemicals including heavy metals and flame retardants that can leach into food and cause harm to human health. Black plastics are not recyclable.

A report in the Guardian said “legacy plastics that contain some of these chemicals seem to be still making their way through the recycling chain. ”

What were the findings of the study?

203 black plastic household items, including toys, takeout containers and kitchen utensils, were assessed in the study, published last October in the journal Chemosphere.

It found they contained decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-208), a flame-retardant chemical phased out in the US more than a decade ago because of concerns it may pose health risks to humans.

Also, the scientists said that "some kitchen utensils would deliver a likely dose of 34, 700 ng per day of BDE-209, which the scientists said approaches the safe exposure limit recommended by the US Environmental Health Protection Agency (EPA), " The Guardian reported.

But the researchers later discovered their estimate of the EPA's reference dose was 10 times too high, the report says. That slashed the estimated BDE-209 exposure from black spoons and spatulas to less than 1/10th of the EPA's recommended limit.

So is it safe to use black plastic products?

Although the utensils' BDE-209 levels may be below the EPA's limit, researchers said, nobody really knows what a "safe dose" of these flame retardants is.