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December 30th, 2024
There’s growing concern that black plastic cooking utensils contain troubling levels of toxic chemicals, including flame retardants, that can leach into food during cooking. A recent study found high levels of flame-retardant chemicals in common household items. Because the source of the chemicals appears to be recycle, e-waste plastic and labeling on recycled content can be inconsistent, experts say that it’s impossible to tell for sure whether the black spatula in your utensil crock is contaminated.
Plastic is often not recycled, and black plastic is notoriously difficult to color to sort for recycling, so most of it gets rejected. To meet the demand for new goods, black plastic from recycled computers, TVs, and appliances is often used instead. Recycling that e-waste can introduce toxic chemicals to the plastic material, including banned flame retardants that are intentionally used in electronic enclosures.
This recent study demonstrated that those chemicals can show up in recycled black plastic bound for toys and food. The study screened more than 200 black plastic products and found high levels of flame retardants, including polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) that are associated with hormonal and development impacts. Another chemical in the tested items, decaBDE, is linked to cancer. The highest levels of flame retardants were found in styrene-based plastic, which is often shaped into single-use items (labeled as #6). But other types commonly used in kitchen utensils, nylon and polypropylene (labeled as #5) for instance, were also discovered at concerning levels.
The risk is that, if present, when heated during cooking, those chemicals can leach out of plastic. Some flame-retardant chemicals can also bioaccumulate, meaning even low levels of repeated exposure can build up in the body over longer time frames. Any black plastic could potentially contain flame retardants from recycled e-waste,
Keep in mind that silicone feels similar to rubber and has a grippy, slip-free texture, whereas hard plastic is more slippery and makes a clacky or clicky sound if you tap it against a hard surface. Unfortunately, the most responsible way to dispose of unwanted black plastic is to throw it in the trash, since black plastic can’t be sorted through most municipal recycling systems. Most inexpensive, black-colored utensils are plastic, so it’s safe to assume that if your spatula is black, it probably needs to go.
