NYU Langone Health: 2025 Plastics, Human Health and Solutions Symposium

Written By Helen Yang

Missed New York Climate Week?

Our founder Helen Yang was on the ground to capture some highlights.

This year’s symposium was condensed into one day instead of two, supplementing academic research with plastic-alternative solutions + policy updates.

Key Takeaways

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Plastics & Human Health

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Key Takeaways • Plastics & Human Health •

  • The downfalls of plastics lie not only in the material sustainability (e.g. unrenewable sourcing, low recycling rates), but also in three other areas. 

    1. Chemical additives used in plastics,

    2. Emissions during plastics production, and

    3. Microplastics persistent in the human body and environment.

  • 1 & 2 are much better studied. This PlastChem report and the pie chart below was cited multiple times, showing that many of these chemicals have not only been studied but have been proven hazardous.

    Yes, they’re still being used today and yes they can leech into your home and personal care products.

    Dr. Kim Nail, NYU Grossman, confirmed that phthalates specifically can cross the placenta and cause direct fetal exposure, affecting reproductive health.

  • Dr. Matthew Campen, UNM, painted a clear picture: today’s plastic waste generation rate is outpacing our plastic disposal rate, and waste is projected to be double our capacity to recycle or incinerate plastic by 2050.

    Plastics are everywhere. Plastic particles are present in the human brain (Campen), tap water and soft drinks (Dr. Beizhan Yan, Columbia), and our environment in the form of micro and nanoplastics. There’s a positive correlation between microplastics concentration in the body and age (Dr. Xiang Xue, UNM), which means this is a cumulative problem.

    So what health implications do these tiny plastics have?

  • #3 is an emerging field with less data.

    While we know that microplastics have made their way into the human body, we await more research on their effects and whether they function mainly as a carrier for hazardous chemicals or if their presence has consequences of its own.

    Previously we could only detect plastics on the micron scale, e.g. PM10, PM2.5, down to about 2 microns (Yan). Now with a new Raman spectroscopy method, Dr. Yan’s team was able to detect nano-scale plastic particles. These nanoplastics are small enough to cross biological barriers, so they are a focus of research.

    What we do know is that plastic exposure is linked to cancer and reproductive health issues. Microplastics have been shown to drive colorectal cancer progression (Xue, Dr. Amanda Phipps) and are being studied in relation to obesity (Dr. Karan Chhabra, NYU Grossman). Plastic additives are endocrine disrupting (Dr. Alicia Peterson, Kaiser), affect women’s cardiometabolic health (Dr. Anne Starling, UNC), and disrupts fetal development (Dr. Myeonggyun Lee, NYU Langone).

    This is an emerging field, so stay tuned for more research on the mechanisms of health disruption.

Conclusion:

Plastics and their endocrine-disrupting chemicals play proven roles in multiple human diseases…

…including diabetes, liver disease, thyroid disease, respiratory issues, autism, brain developmental abnormalities, prostate cancer, and shockingly even more.

Bisphenols, phthalates, and PFAS are particularly well-studied groups in many of these etiologies.

See the full event recording here. Separately, Safer Made provides a great summary of the toxicity potential for various plastics.

Recycling Spotlight

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Recycling Spotlight •

Not all plastics are equal.

Recycling works great for some types of plastic, but still faces the issue of chemical contamination in the end product. Even if we reach 100% plastic recycling efficiency and circularity, these materials still pose a threat to human health.

This calls into question the human safety of PCR (post-consumer recycled) plastics, which may contain chemicals like pesticides that have been shown to migrate into consumer products*

Let’s zoom in on the latest in plastics recycling:

  • Polymer producers and consumer packaged goods companies are now facing lawsuits for generating plastic pollution and misleading recycling claims.

  • Recycling efficacy (USA): only 21% of residential recyclables are being successfully recycled. See this overview from State of Recycling.

    • The excerpted graphic below shows that paper & glass continue to have the best recycling rates. PET does great, but other plastics don’t.

    • The US EPA concurs. When looking at total recycled materials in 2018, paper comprises 66.54% while plastic only makes up 4.47%.

  • Small items usually end up in the landfill. NPR published a consumer-friendly overview of which plastics actually get recycled, and which end up in the trash.

    • Plastics under 3” in dimensions are treated as trash.

*Maaike Van Gerwen, PhD, Mount Sinai

State of Recycling: Fate of Material by Major Material Category

Solutions

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Solutions •

There is hope. Beyond improving recyclability, we’re also starting to see research on exciting alternative materials to replace plastics altogether. Check out this summary from Safer Made.

NYU’s expert scientists drove home that we shouldn't rush towards partial solutions that may engender even more problems down the line (e.g. bio-based plastics that are molecularly identical to petroleum plastics, but require an even higher temperatures to recycle).

Collectively, let’s find packaging solutions that are not only sustainable for the planet but also for human health.

If you need a 1:1 plastic replacement (especially for small items that cannot be recycled), reach my team at Clement Packaging.

Helen Yang
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Dreaming of a Green Christmas