International Journal of Health Sciences & Research (www.ijhsr.org) 275 Vol.7; Issue: 3; March 2017 International Journal of Health Sciences and Research www.ijhsr.org ISSN: 2249-9571 Original Research Article Qualitative Determination of Virgin and Recycled Plastic Used for Drinking and Storing Foodstuff: An Analytical Study Using SEM/EDX A. Verma 1 , S. Singh 1 , N. Dhusia 1 , R.N. Bhargava 2 , R. Kumar 2 , R. Gautam 3 , Islamuddin 3 , K.R. Venkatesh 4 , N. More 1 1 Department of Environmental Science, 2 Department of Environmental Microbiology, 3 University Institute of Engineering & Technology, 4 Department of Applied Animal Science, School for Bio-Science Biotechnology, Babashaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow (A Central University)-226025 U.P, INDIA Corresponding Author: N. More Received: 01/02/2017 Revised: 21/02/2017 Accepted: 01/03/2017 ABSTRACT Introduction: Plastics have become an integral part of life. Their usage pattern in daily life in sectors such as furniture, house wares, mechanical, engineering, aviation, floor sheet, lamination, biomedical etc. Improper disposal and use of recycled plastic products are significant source of environmental pollution, Packaging material has many toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury etc. that contaminates the environment and cause public health problem. Objectives: The study was done on the physical state, odour, clarity of leachate, chemical characteristics of the plastic samples. To estimate the presence of heavy metals content like cadmium, chromium, iron, arsenic, Materials and methods: A detailed study of heavy metals in virgin and recycled plastic was conducted by using SEM/EDX Scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Ten samples of virgin plastics were collected from 4 zones of Lucknow district. Analysis of Functional Groups was done by FTIR. Result: Cadmium was found in both virgin as well as recycled plastics in amount of 0.11 -0.43 ppm. The maximum amount of Cr was 0.1 ppm and minimum was 0.01 ppm. Iron ranges from 0.02 ppm -2.4 ppm and the maximum amount of arsenic was found to be 0.98 ppm and minimum was 0.03 ppm. Conclusion: Based on our study, we can conclude that the recycled plastics products are not recommended for use in product intend to come in contact with foodstuff. Keywords: Recycled Plastic, Heavy Metals, Human Health. INTRODUCTION This word plastic comes from the Greek word “plastikos”, which means „able to be molded into different shapes‟ [1] or processed into a variety of forms, including solid objects, films and filaments. Plastics are synthetic substances produced by chemical reactions. Plastic has many properties, having the ability to be shaped by the application of reasonable amount of heat and pressure or some other form of force, which has made it a raw material of choice for manufactures of plastic bags and packing materials. Cost of production, lightweight, strength, easy process of manufacture, and availability are few of the properties. Plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids that are moldable. Plastics are formed by polymerization; polymerization is the process by which individual units of similar or different