Green Newton

Black plastic is something many people use in their everyday lives. It can be found in your cooking utensils, food packaging, electronics, and even children’s toys. Though it may seem harmless, this commonly used material has been proven to contain many toxic chemicals, is hazardous to human beings, and lastly, it poses a threat to our environment.

Your black plastic spatula may look safe to use when laying around in your kitchen drawer, but in reality, it contains various toxic chemicals. 40% of black plastic contains cadmium, mercury, and lead, which are all chemicals that are hazardous to consume. In addition, studies show that toxic flame retardant chemicals were found in 85% of tested black plastic and the amount of these chemicals found exceeded the government safety standard by 30 times. When cooking with black plastic, this becomes an issue because tiny scraps of the plastic leach into your food and can cause developmental and reproductive problems, poisoning your kidneys and causing neurological damage in your brain.

Black plastic hinders our environment as well. Due to its dark color, black plastic often doesn’t make it through the recycling process successfully. Most recycling facilities use near-infrared light to scan the items that have been recycled and sort them into different categories. Unfortunately, when sent to these recycling facilities, black plastic’s carbon black color absorbs the scanner’s light and causes the scanner to mistake it for other non-recyclable items. Because of this, black plastic doesn’t get sorted into any specific category and ends up being thrown into a landfill instead, adding unnecessary garbage into our environment.

In September 2023, Newton’s City Council passed an ordinance called the “Sustainable Food and Beverage Serviceware, Packaging, and Single Use Items Ordinance.” This initiative, similar to others passed in Needham and Brookline, banned the use of plastic from take-out and delivery orders in an attempt to reduce single-use plastic and promote recyclable and reusable alternatives in Massachusetts.

You can take action too. You may be asking yourself, “how can I make an impact?” The best thing you can do is:

• avoid buying anything made out of black plastic,
• swap out your take-out containers, kitchen utensils, etc., for glass, ceramic, wooden, or metal containers when you get home, and
• spread awareness to your friends and family about the harms of black plastic.

Sources:

Green Newton. “Tip of the Week: Avoid Black Plastic Takeout Containers for Your Health.” Green Newton, greennewton.org/?s=black+plastic&post_type=post. Accessed 13 July 2025.

“Toxic Flame Retardants in Recycled Plastics.” Toxic Free Future, toxicfreefuture.org/research/toxic-flame-retardants-in-recycled-plastics/fact-sheet/. Accessed 13 July 2025.

“The Truth about Black Plastic.” Vermont Public Interest Research Group, 28 Aug. 2019, www.vpirg.org/news/the-truth-about-black-plastic/. Accessed 13 July 2025.

“Uh Oh. That Black Plastic in Your Recycling Bin Probably Isn’t Actually Being Recycled.” SCJohnson, 5 July 2023, www.scjohnson.com/en/stories/sustainable-world/plastic-reuse-and-recycling/2023/july/uh-oh-that-black-plastic-in-your-recycling-bin-probably-isnt-actually-being-recycled. Accessed 13 July 2025.

“Why Black Plastic Is Bad News.” Beyond Plastics, www.beyondplastics.org/fact-sheets/black-plastic. Accessed 13 July 2025.