EU to ban cadmium in all plastic materials

Recently, ECHA is examining a case requested by European Commission for expanding the restriction on cadmium from the current 16 specific plastic materials listed in Annex XVII of REACH to all plastic materials. Interested parties are invited to submit comments before 11 February 2013 via the ECHA website so that ECHA is able to assess the impact of the expanding.

 

Currently, there are 16 specific plastic materials restricted under REACH Annex XVII. They are:

polyvinyl chloride (PVC)

polyurethane (PUR)

low-density polyethylene(ld PE), with the exception of low-density polyethylene used for the production of coloured masterbatch

cellulose acetate (CA)

cellulose acetate butyrate(CAB)

epoxy resins

melamine – formaldehyde (MF) resins

urea – formaldehyde (UF) resins

unsaturated polyesters (UP)

polyethylene terephthalate (PET)

polybutylene terephthalate (PBT)

transparent/generalpurpose polystyrene

Acrylonitrile methylmethacrylate

cross-linked polyethylene (VPE)

high-impact polystyrene

polypropylene (PP)