Traceability of Chemicals in Plastics and in Plastic Products

The Nordic program to reduce plastic pollution 2025-2027 under the Nordic Council of Ministers for the Environment and Climate is administered by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and Environment. The program is launching a call for tenders for a project on the traceability of chemicals in plastics and plastic products. Chemicals of concern in plastics pose significant challenges for health, the environment and the safe functioning of circular value chains. Effective traceability enables regulators and industry to identify and control chemicals of concern, improve the safety and transparency of recycled plastics, strengthen monitoring, reporting and compliance, support accurate classification and control of plastic-related trade and reduce data gaps and inconsistencies across value chains. There is a need for a consolidated global overview of the methods, approaches, and systems currently used to promote traceability of chemicals in plastics and plastic products along value chains. This project aims to identify practical, implementable and globally relevant options for improving the traceability of chemicals in plastics and in plastic products, providing targeted input to the ongoing Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) and supporting future plastic treaty implementation. It is also relevant for targets under the Global Framework on Chemicals, GFC, as well as the Stockholm Convention. The project will consolidate and assess existing regulatory, technical and sectoral approaches across major jurisdictions including the EU, USA, China, Brazil, South Africa and selected Middle Eastern countries, and as far as possible seek to translate these into prioritised recommendations for increased transparency. The outcome will be communicated as a publicly available report. Project output should be issued through NordPub according to the guidelines of the Nordic Council of Ministers. See appendix 1 for more information.