4 November 2024, Quezon City. As spooky Halloween decorations are quickly taken down and replaced with jolly Christmas ornaments, a toxics watchdog group has alerted consumers on which items to avoid to safeguard human health and the environment, too. Amid the early shopping for Christmas ornaments and the like, the EcoWaste Coalition went to Binondo and Tondo, Manila City, Monumento, Caloocan City and Cubao, Quezon City during the Undas weekend to purchase assorted items used to evoke the festive Christmas mood.The 55 purchased items consisted of the iconic “parol,” lighting chains, garlands, embellishments for Christmas trees, and other ornaments representing well-known Yuletide figures, including Santa Claus, Frosty, Gingerbread Man, etc.“It’s again the time of the year when homes, schools, offices and everything else are adorned with things that add to the magic of Christmas,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator, EcoWaste Coalition.“However, not all Christmas decorations are created equally,” she emphasized. “Some may contain ingredients or components that pose a threat to our health, as well as the environment.”
To illustrate the dangers hiding in some Christmas ornaments being offered for sale in the market, the EcoWaste Coalition drew attention to the following observations and findings:
These modern words are made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic containing toxic cadmium at levels above the European Union’s limit.
1. Three “words” made out of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic contain cadmium at levels exceeding the 100 parts per million (ppm) limit set by the European Union (EU) for all plastic types. A yellow PVC word contains 207 ppm cadmium, while the red and green ones contain 171 ppm and 137 ppm, respectively. Cadmium, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), “exerts toxic effects on the kidneys as well as the skeletal and respiratory systems” and “is classified as a human carcinogen.”
Aside from not being certified for their quality and safety, some of these unapproved Christmas lights may have cords and solders containing toxic lead above the European Union’s limit.
2. Ten Christmas lights were found not to carry the mandatory Philippine Standard (PS) mark or Import Commodity Clearance (ICC) sticker, indicating non-compliance to the required quality and safety certification process. The black and green cords of five products were found to contain lead ranging from 2,868 ppm and 7,960 ppm, while the solders of one product had 2,072 ppm. Lead cannot exceed the 1,000 ppm limit under the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) in electrical and electronic products. According to the EU, “lead poses a risk to the environment and is harmful to human health, as it accumulates in the body, can cause developmental neurotoxicity and may affect breast-fed or unborn children.”
The plastic components of these Christmas-themed headbands and balls contain high levels of bromine, indicating use of recycled plastic from e-waste laden with brominated flame retardant c.
These cute Christmas ornaments are powered with tiny button cell batteries in unsecured compartments, posing choking hazards and chemical burns, especially for kids.
4. Nine assorted Christmas ornaments are powered with button cell batteries, which are not securely fastened. Young children may play with these decorative items and accidentally ingest or insert the tiny battery into her/his ear and nose, which may lead to choking and chemical burns in the digestive tract, ear canal and nasal cavity. These tiny batteries may contain lithium, manganese or zinc silver.
Some Christmas decorations are embellished with microplastic glitters, which can easily travel through the wastewater and into the oceans and threaten aquatic life.
5. Thirteen assorted Christmas decorations are embellished with glitters, which are mostly a combination of aluminum and plastic. Due to their small particle size, glitters can easily travel through the wastewater and into the oceans, threatening aquatic organisms who mistakenly ingest these microplastics as food. To reduce microplastic pollution, the EU banned loose glitters and certain products containing them in October 2023. While articles with glitters affixed on their surface do not fall within the scope of the restriction, the EcoWaste Coalition urged consumers to choose items without microplastic glitters, noting glitters can fall off from such decorations.
The group used a handheld X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) analyzer to screen the Christmas decorations for chemicals of concern such as cadmium, lead, antimony and bromine.
For eco-friendly and safer yuletide decorations, the EcoWaste Coalition urged consumers to consider the following reminders:
1. Choose “parols” made of paper and indigenous materials such as bamboo, coconut husk and shell, palm leaves and other plant-based stuff.
2. Pick quality and safe Christmas lights with an authentic PS mark or ICC sticker to avoid electric shock and fire hazard. Check the list of DTI-certified Christmas lights before making a purchase. See: https://www.dti.gov.ph/ archives/news-archives/dti- bps-list-of-certified -christmas-lights/
3. Avoid Christmas ornaments with button cell batteries that are not in child-resistant packaging. The battery must be secure and not easily opened by young children.
5. Opt for decorations without microplastic glitters. Better yet, go for plastic-free adornments that are made of fabrics and native materials.
6. Before shopping for decorations, try to create upcycled Christmas ornaments from used wrappers, product containers, tin cans, glass bottles, mason jars, paper boxes, toilet paper rolls, magazines, and other discards.
The EcoWaste Coalition, an environmental health organization, advocates for an ecological observance of the Christmas and New Year season to prevent and reduce waste, and conserve the Earth’s finite resources amid the climate emergency, biodiversity loss and pervasive pollution facing Mother Earth.
References:
https://www.dti.gov.ph/ archives/news-archives/dti- bps-list-of-certified -christmas-lights/