TY - CONF A1 - Jaeger, Carsten T1 - Untargeted Analysis of Leachables Released from Recycled Polyethylene Canisters N2 - Recycling existing materials and products as far as possible is an integral part of the circular economy. Plastic-based packaging, including containers for food and beverages but also for storing and transporting chemicals and dangerous goods, are presently made to a wide range from fossil resources. However, even for these “contact sensitive” products, there is still the aim of sustainability using recycled materials. For packings for the transport of dangerous goods, safety characteristics of the containments made from the “virgin” materials including polyethylene (PE) are well known and tested within the frame of their design type approval. Much less, however, is known about their counterparts made from recycled materials. Apart from material weaking, incorporation of residues into recycled plastics can cause contamination of the goods inside the packaging. To fill this gap, we have evaluated high-density PE (HDPE) canisters made from post-consumer waste towards release of plastic additives and contaminants such as residues from former contents. Using a comprehensive untargeted high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) approach as well as thermal extraction-desorption gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TED-GC/MS), we detected up to 870 distinct components depending on the type of stored chemical and storage duration. Most of the components were unique to or released in significantly higher amounts from recycled HDPE compared to conventional HDPE. 129 of the components could be identified and analyzed for functional use. The analysis revealed “cosmetics”, “fragrance” and “flavoring” as major associations next to known and expected uses in the field of “plastics”, indicating significant introduction of foreign contaminants into the product. We present details on the compound classes involved and discuss consequences for political targets on increasing recycling rates in this product segment. T2 - International Conference on Non-Target Screening CY - Erding, Germany DA - 13.10.2025 KW - Extractables KW - Leachables KW - Untargeted analysis KW - Recycling KW - Polyethylene PY - 2025 AN - OPUS4-65742 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -