Plastics from household waste as a source of heavy metal pollution

An inventory study to the levels of cadmium in the plastic component of household waste was carried out utilizing INAA as the analytical technique. In a 2-h irradiation, 2-d decay, and 1-h measurement, protocol adequate sensitivities could be obtained for Cd, but also for a group of other metals: Cr, Co, Ni, Cu, Sr, Zn, As, Se, Mo, Sn, Sb, Ba, and Hg. Red-, orange-, and yellow-colored plastics either contain Cd at high levels (over 1000 mg/kg) or have relatively low Cd concentrations (<50 mg/kg). High concentrations were also occasionally found for Sr, Se, Ba, Sb, and Hg. INAA appeared very well to be routinely usable for such analysis because of the absence of a destruction step, adequate sensitivity, high accuracy, and multielement results.