Researchers from Leuven describe in Nature Sustainability how they are using building blocks from wood oil to make more sustainable alternatives to the widely used but harmful plastic bisphenol A.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is mainly used in polycarbonates and epoxy resins, but also in niche products such as dental fillings. It has excellent properties, but also major drawbacks: it can leach out of the products in which it is used, and it has also been found to be an endocrine disruptor. BPA interferes with oestrogen activity in humans. There is now talk of an imminent European ban. In practice, many (simple) bisphenol alternatives are not good substitutes either; they are at least as harmful.