Towards development of a rapid and effective non-destructive testing strategy to identify brominated flame retardants in the plastics of consumer products

Occurrence and distribution of brominated flame retardants and perfluoroalkyl substances in Australian landfill leachate and biosolids

“…Other uses include packaging and beanbag fill, and to a lesser extent in textile coatings (5%). The contribution of consumer products to the mass of imported HBCDD is thought to be negligible [3,53], however the range of products with reported HBCDD use are numerous [2,55]. Plastic foam manufacturers are potentially the largest industrial emitters of HBCDD into wastewater during manufacture of polystyrene insulation products.…”

“…In addition to these quantities, unknown amounts also likely entered Australia in finished consumer products. International regulatory activity appears to have largely reduced the amount of cPentaBDE and cOctaBDE in consumer products to plastic recyclate use [3] and the contribution to the total mass entering Australia in consumer products is likely insignificant. Due to its extensive use in the 1990s and ongoing manufacture and use in electronics, the automotive/transport industry, textiles and in building construction industries [57], BDE-209 is likely to be entering Australian landfills in multiple waste streams as well as entering wastewater through dust associated with current use consumer products in households [58].…”

“…The majority of household appliances and computers in current use in Australia are imported from China [59,60], which are the types of products in which a large proportion of the total BDE-209 produced in China is used [61]. Testing of imported electronic and electrical consumer products retailing in Australia in 2012, confirmed BDE-209 use in a high proportion of television back panels, small household appliances, power adaptors and power boards [3]. The extent to which textiles (including furnishings and carpets) may be treated with a BDE-209 back coating in Australia is unknown, although typically the transport industry is a large user of this type of product [57].…”

“…Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) have been widely used as flame retardants in the foams and plastics of consumer products [1][2][3][4]. Perfluroalkyl substances (PFASs) have undergone similar wide usage in consumer products for their anti-stick surfactant properties [5][6][7].…”

Potential for Reuse of E-Plastics through Processing by Compression Molding

“…More recently, the use of other methods including X-ray fluorescence (XRF) [48][49][50], Raman spectroscopy [50], Ion beam analysis (IBA) [51,52], and thermal analytical methods such as thermal desorption GC-MS have been proposed for FR analysis [39,[53][54][55]. XRF and IBA methods analyze for elemental composition, using the Br, Cl, and P levels as a surrogate for the FR itself, i.e., elevated levels of Br, Cl, and/or P would indicate the presence of the FR.…”