Be Plastic Free
The project Fes el Canvi, Be Plastic Free is a outreach and citizen science initiative that has focused on the assessment and social awareness of human exposure to chemical compounds added to plastics, plasticizers, through a collaboration between IDAEA-CSIC, Escola Solc, and the organization Zero Waste BCN.
Why plasticizers?
Plasticizers are chemical compounds added to plastics to provide them with flexibility, hardness, or rigidity. Most of these chemical substances can be released from the plastic itself into liquids, solids, or even the air. Scientific evidence shows that some of these substances are harmful to human health and the environment.
Analysis of plasticizers
The starting point was to analyze the amount of these plasticizer additives to which the bodies of 3rd and 4th-year ESO students at Escola Solc were exposed, using a wristband for 24 hours and taking a urine sample. In this way, the students learned the concentration of plasticizer compounds they had inhaled and ingested, and an attempt was made to correlate this with their lifestyle habits.
Social awareness
The researchers from IDAEA-CSIC were responsible for providing scientific training on these compounds to the teaching staff and students. Building on this and the development of the project, the students at Escola Solc actively shared information about the issue of plasticizer pollution at various events where the school participated, some open to the citizens of Barcelona, and others aimed at fellow students.
Thanks to the co-creative workshops by Zero Waste BCN, the students diagnosed the waste they generated at home and proposed alternatives to reduce plastic use in their daily lives.
Good Habits Guide
One of the outcomes of this project is the guide How to Avoid Plasticizers? A Good Habits Guide to Reduce Plastic Use (available in Catalan and Spanish), designed by the IDAEA-CSIC communications team in collaboration with the students at Escola Solc.
The guide provides simple, easy-to-adopt instructions for daily life to encourage habit changes among the public, reducing everyday exposure to these compounds that are harmful to human health and the environment.
Fes el Canvi, Be Plastic Free is a collaborative project between IDAEA-CSIC, Escola Solc, and the organization Zero Waste BCN, funded by the Barcelona City Council through the 2022 grants for project development within the framework of the city’s climate emergency (22S06957-001).
