Black Plastic, the Devil and Consumer Issues

By Jean Lukaz MIH

At a recent consumer meeting of The Consumer Partnership (The COP), issues were raised concerning the colour black being used in the production of plastic bags, bowls, buckets, etc and their implications as to the quality of the materials used and also issues not necessarilly technical but regarding the spiritual connotations of the colour black. It must be noted that black plastics are usually the product of recycled waste and by implication all black plasticware must not be used for food storage, food production, food transfer or food consumption.
Black plastic bags in Ghana are usually referred to as “Ewiase ye sum” meaning ‘It’s a dark world’ and connoting all that is concealed by the colour black and by implication inside the bag.

Technically, test reports from the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) indicate that the testing laboratory automatically does not check for the quality of black platic bags, black plastic bowls, black plastic buckets and black plastic waste bins [now being used by Ghanaian consumers to store water] in relation to their use for food for human consumption unless the description of the product categorically indicates that they are going to be used for food storage, food preparation, food transfer or food consumption purposes. This is because they are by default not meant to be used for food purposes.

What then happens to consumer misuse as is the prevalent situation in Ghana? You guess!

Black plastic cutlery and plates have been discovered in some of the so called high class stores such as Koala at Osu and even National Security has picked up on the emerging issue of the Black Plastic Menace in Ghana made in China and Ghana being sold in these shops. It is even worse in the open marketplaces where the majority of illiterate and ignorant Ghanaian consumers patronise these products to the risk of their health and safety.

Some factories in the Accra industrial area are being reported to be recycling plastic from e-waste, car batteries and other toxic components in the manufacture of these black plastic cutlery, plates, bowls, buckets and bins/water containers and concealing the pigmentation with black dyes.
Expert opinion from the GSB also refers to the use of other colours apart from black in dyeing toxic recycled plastics. The dangers are worse when hot food is kept in these placticware as it catalyses the migration of toxins from the plasticware into the food that has the likelihood of causing cancer.

…And what has black plasticware got to do with the devil? You decide!
Are we safe?

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www.theconsumerpartnership.wordpress.com