​Recycling study finds that one facility may emit 3 million pounds of microplastics a year.

(WIRED) The plastics industry has long hyped recycling, even though it is well aware that it's been a failure. Worldwide, only 9 percent of plastic waste actually gets recycled. In the United States, the rate is now 5 percent. Most used plastic is landfilled, incinerated, or winds up drifting around the environment.

Now, an alarming new study has found that even when plastic makes it to a recycling center, it can still end up splintering into smaller bits that contaminate the air and water. This pilot study focused on a single new facility where plastics are sorted, shredded, and melted down into pellets. Along the way, the plastic is washed several times, sloughing off microplastic particles—fragments smaller than 5 millimeters—into the plant's wastewater.

Because there were multiple washes, the researchers could sample the water at four separate points along the production line. (They are not disclosing the identity of the facility's operator, who cooperated with their project.) This plant was actually in the process of installing filters that could snag particles larger than 50 microns (a micron is a millionth of a meter), so the team was able to calculate the microplastic concentrations in raw versus filtered discharge water—basically a before-and-after snapshot of how effective filtration is.

Their microplastics tally was astronomical. Even with filtering, they calculate that the total discharge from the different washes could produce up to 75 billion particles per cubic meter of wastewater. Depending on the recycling facility, that liquid would ultimately get flushed into city water systems or the environment. In other words, recyclers trying to solve the plastics crisis may in fact be accidentally exacerbating the microplastics crisis, which is coating every corner of the environment with synthetic particles.

"It seems a bit backward, almost, that we do plastic recycling in order to protect the environment, and then end up increasing a different and potentially more harmful problem," says plastics scientist Erina Brown, who led the research while at the University of Strathclyde.

"It raises some very serious concerns," agrees Judith Enck, president of Beyond Plastics and a former US Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator, who wasn't involved in the paper. "And I also think this points to the fact that plastics are fundamentally not sustainable."

Please read more from WIRED
https://www.wired.com/story/yet-another-problem-with-recycling-it-spews-microplastics/

US Department of Labor announces more than $12M in grant funding available for worker safety, health training grants

OSHA.GOV – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced the availability of more than $12.7 million in funding to make more good jobs available to the U.S. workforce by supporting training initiatives designed to promote safe and healthy in the nation's workplaces.

Administered by the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program includes funding opportunities for Targeted Topic Training, Training and Educational Materials Development, and new Capacity Building training grants for nonprofit organizations. Grants will support recipients' efforts to provide instructor-led remote and in-person hands-on training for workers and employers in small businesses; industries with high injury, illness and fatality rates; and vulnerable workers, who are underserved, have limited English proficiency, or are temporary workers.

Specifically, the Harwood grants will fund training and education on how to recognize, avoid and control hazards, and inform workers of their rights and employers of their responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Funding will be available in the following categories:

• Targeted Topic Training: Supporting educational programs that identify and prevent workplace hazards. Applicants must conduct training on OSHA-designated workplace safety and health hazards.
• Training and Educational Materials Development: Supporting the development of quality classroom-ready training and educational materials that identify and prevent workplace hazards.
• Capacity Building: Supporting organizations in developing new training programs to assess needs and plan for full-scale safety and health education programs, expanding their capacity to provide workplace safety and health training, education and related assistance to workers and employers.

Applicants must register with grants.gov and SAM.gov to apply for a grant opportunity. Submit applications at www.grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. EDT on July 7, 2023.

OSHA will host a webinar, "How to Prepare a Competitive Susan Harwood Training Grant Application," to assist organizations in preparing grant applications on May 25, 2023, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. EDT. Register for the webinar.

OSHA awards grants to nonprofit organizations, including community, faith-based, grassroot organizations, employer associations, labor unions, joint labor/management associations, Indian tribes, and public/state colleges and universities to provide free workplace safety and health training.

Benzene Found in 80% of Sunscreens tested

Benzene, which has been linked to blood cancers, was reported in 2021 in a large number of sunscreens and after-sun products that were independently tested. The products included sprays, gels, lotions, and creams. Benzene was found in 43 out of 224 sunscreens and in 8 of 48 after-sun products. The highest average concentrations of benzene (2 ppm to 6 ppm) were found in four sprays. The next highest average concentrations of benzene (0.1 to 1 ppm) were in twelve products that were primarily sprays but included four lotions. After-sun products with the highest concentrations of benzene consisted of four gels and one spray.

In the months after benzene was reported in sunscreens, recalls were undertaken by Coppertone and by Johnson & Johnson (of certain Neutrogena sunscreens and one Aveeno sunscreen). In January 2023, Banana Boat also expanded its recall of products found to contain benzene.

In addition, tests published in 2023 of 50 sunscreen products (purchased in 2021) found that 80% contained benzene, with three containing relatively higher amounts.

FDA guidance suggests that no level of benzene is safe, and it is not permitted in these or other products. A study by Health Canada's Bureau of Chemical Hazards has shown that the application of sunscreen specifically increases the absorption rate of benzene through the skin. Benzene is known to cause cancer in humans according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the World Health Organization, and other regulatory agencies. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) defines benzene as a carcinogen and lists "inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion, skin and/or eye contact" as exposure routes.

Please read full at: https://www.consumerlab.com/answers/cancer-causing-compounds-benzene-benzophenone-in-sunscreen/carcinogens-sunscreen/