Receipts and other thermal paper slips are polluting our bodies. The situation is even more disconcerting for cashiers and workers that are women of childbearing age and teenagers as they are more biologically vulnerable to the effects of BPA and BPS. Sarah Jamal Communications Manager. The other 9 papers contained a related chemical, bisphenol S, as the developer at similar weights; micrograms per square centimeter.
These results are documented in this recent MPCA report:. Keep in mind, thermal paper is also used for airline boarding passes and luggage tags, and tests have found BPA and BPS in these papers, too. Thermal receipt papers advertised as "BPA free" usually use BPS as the substitute, which has a similar structure to BPA has effects on the endocrine and reproductive systems of mammals at low doses.
These papers are not likely to affect human and animal endocrine systems and reproductive health. Pergafast may still cause environmental harm if released to the environment.
Click on the adjacent tabs for more information on these options. The best option is to switch to e-receipts that are texted or e-mailed to customers. We recommend you do not put thermal receipt paper in your recycling bin.
BPA and other chemicals embedded in thermal paper can end up in wastewater from recycling plants or minimally contaminate other papers in the recycling stream.
Some cities across the country consider these chemicals papers contaminants in the recycling stream. For the same reason, you should not compost your receipts.
Reducing use of BPA and BPS thermal receipt paper in the hospitality sector p-p2s This paper reports results of a range of business actions taken to reduce thermal paper receipt use.
Case studies: BPA in thermal paper project Business are making a change to paperless receipts, and many see cost savings and efficiency gains. Learn from their experience in these success stories. These three short videos provide introductory information about BPA in thermal paper. The videos mention an assistance program for hospitality businesses, which ended in However, the rest of the information presented in the videos remains useful.
Ways that employers and employees can reduce environmental releases and human exposure to BPA and BPS via thermal receipt papers. Cashiers have been found to have higher concentrations of BPA in their urine than people in other occupations. Reducing thermal paper use is the most effective strategy for reducing BPA exposure from thermal paper for employees and customers.
Since there are no known clearly safer alternatives to BPA in thermal paper, moving to a paperless point-of-sale POS system is the ideal solution for businesses. MPCA has also developed a list of strategies to reduce potential exposure in cases where thermal receipts must be used. We recommend you do not put thermal receipt paper in your recycling bin or compost bin. Some cities across the country consider these papers contaminants in the recycling stream.
There are many providers of digital receipt services that can result in receipts that are texted or e-mailed to customers. Once on the fingers, BPA can be transferred to foods. A number of hormones — including estrogen — can be delivered through the skin by controlled-release patches. So, some scientists began to worry about whether BPA, too, might enter the skin. In , toxicologists showed it did. Two teams published data showing BPA could pass into the body through skin. Three years later, a team of university and government scientists showed that handling receipt paper could bring BPA into the body.
Paper companies started getting concerned. Several public-interest groups have been petitioning for companies to label any receipt papers that contain BPA or one of its chemical cousins. That way, pregnant women would know to wash their hands after picking up a BPA-laced receipt.
They would also know to keep it out of the hands of babies that might put fingers that handled such receipts into their mouths. By Janet Raloff November 22, at am. Explainer: What are endocrine disruptors? Most likely the last time you went to the pharmacy or grocery store you left with the products you bought and a paper receipt. But not everything you read is true, especially these days. The most recent information on BPA in thermal paper receipts is from a recently published paper on exactly this topic.
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