Materials

The “Materials” section contains resources related to the project, including thematic factsheets and project methodology, overview of project reports and recommendations.

HEJSupport, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SSNC) and groundWork South Africa are happy to announce a new report examining a fundamental gap in chemicals and product policy: we often do not know which chemicals are present in the materials and products we manufacture, purchase, reuse and recycle.

The report, Knowing What Chemicals Are in Products, explains why chemical transparency and traceability are essential for protecting health and the environment. Disclosing chemical information is key, but it is not enough if that information becomes disconnected from individual materials, components, and products as they move through global value chains and into reuse, recycling, and waste streams.

The publication further explains the concept of a Globally Minimum Transparency Standard (GMTS) as a global benchmark for disclosing the identities of chemicals of concern in materials and products. Combined with Digital Product Passports and other emerging digital product information systems, this approach ensures that chemical information follows products throughout their life cycle, helping stakeholders make informed decisions.

This is especially urgent for plastics. More than 16,000 chemicals are associated with plastics, including thousands identified as chemicals of concern. Without reliable information on their chemical composition, recycling can perpetuate hazardous substances in secondary materials—creating toxic circularity rather than a safe circular economy.

The report therefore calls for advancing chemical transparency and traceability across the Global Plastics Treaty, the Global Framework on Chemicals, the Basel, Rotterdam, Stockholm and Minamata Conventions, and emerging initiatives on Digital Product Passports and Digital Product Information Systems.

The report conveys a central message:
Knowing what chemicals are in products—and ensuring that this information follows products throughout their life cycle—must become a fundamental part of global chemicals and product governance.

Read the full report: Knowing What Chemicals Are in Products – Why transparency and traceability of chemicals are essential for product safety, circularity and the right to know

Project Outcome Webinar

The webinar was held on October 29, 2025 showcasing the main results of work conducted between May 2024 and October 2025 across five countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. The webinar agenda included the following key presentations:

1.Opening of the seminar and introduction of participants

2.Presentation of the project ““Outreach and awareness-raising on prevention, minimization, and recycling options for plastic waste in countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia with the goal to reduce plastic pollution and minimize its impact on the environment and human health”.

Olga Speranskaya, Alexandra Caterbow, Co-Directors of HEJSupport, Project Managers

3. Project importance for EECCA countries

Mr.Umarjon Abdulaev, chief specialist, Department of Public-Private Partnership and Solid Waste Management, Ministry of Ecology, Environment and Climate Change, Uzbekistan

4.Presentation of the main results of the project in the participating countries

• Islam Mustafayev, Head of the Ruzgar Environmental Society, Azerbaijan
• Gohar Khojayyan, Expert, Armenian Women for Health and Healthy Environment NGO, Armenia
• Gia Sopadze, Scientific Director of the NGO Union for Sustainable Development “Ecovision”, Georgia
• Zhanibek Mukhanov, Expert at the Center for Sustainable Development Assistance, Uzbekistan
• Denis Pavlovsky, Director of the NGO “Chemical Safety Agency”, Ukraine

5. Negotiations on the plastics agreement: global challenges and the contribution of the “Plastics in WECCA Countries” project to overcoming differences

Olga Speranskaya, Alexandra Caterbow, Co-Directors, HEJSupport

General discussion

Representatives from ministries and agencies of Armenia, Georgia, and Uzbekistan, along with members of public organizations, participated in the discussion, emphasizing the project’s significance for the entire EECCA region. The webinar participants thanked HEJSupport for successfully managing such a complex project, highlighting the importance of implementing similar activities in other EECCA countries using the methodology developed in the current project. 

TECHNICAL GUIDELINES ON THE ENVIRONMENTALLY SOUND MANAGEMENT OF PLASTIC WASTES

The new Basel Convention technical guidelines reveal a troubling truth: most plastics are not pure polymers but complex chemical mixtures. To achieve flexibility, durability, or colour, manufacturers routinely add plasticizers, flame retardants, stabilizers, UV filters, and pigments — many of which are hazardous to human health and the environment.

Persistent and bioaccumulative substances such as brominated flame retardants, PFAS, short-chain chlorinated paraffins, and lead-based stabilizers continue to be detected in plastic products and waste streams. These chemicals can leach, migrate, and be released throughout the entire plastic life cycle—from production to disposal—making recycling unsafe and contributing to ongoing global pollution.

The Basel guidelines advocate for greater chemical transparency, the phase-out of toxic additives, and the prevention of hazardous waste generation. Achieving truly safe circularity involves addressing not only plastic waste but also the toxic chemicals integrated within. See paragraph 6. Typical additives and processing aids, pages 13-16.

In March 2025, HEJSupport organized a regional meeting to present the project clearinghouse website as the regional “one-stop shop” for information and action on plastic pollution, bridging the gap between science, policy, and practice. All Project partners presented information from the national pages allocated on the website.