Contaminant levels in recycled PET plastic

The purpose of this thesis was to determine which contaminants were present in washed and dried shredded poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET, flake) obtained from curbside collection and to determine whether their concentrations were above the US FDA threshold of 215 ppb. Over thirty semi-volatile contaminants were extracted from the treated flake by Soxhlet extraction using dichloromethane as a PET swelling solvent and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy for identification and quantification. Soxhlet extraction of flake ground to 0-300