Abstract

Bisphenol A (BPA) has been widely employed as a colour developer in thermal paper and is now recognised as an important non-dietary source of human exposure. In 2016, Yalçın, Geçgel and Battal reported the first quantitative data for BPA in Turkish thermal paper receipts using water extraction followed by HPLC with fluorescence detection. All twelve receipts analysed contained BPA, with concentrations ranging from 0.11 to 21.65 mg g⁻¹ paper. Ten samples showed high levels (mean 13.83 ± 0.69 mg g⁻¹), comparable to reports from Belgium, Switzerland and the USA at that time, whereas two samples contained much lower amounts (0.40 and 0.11 mg g⁻¹), suggesting a transition towards alternative developers. This paper reconstructs and critically evaluates that study—sampling design, analytical method and data interpretation—and integrates more recent evidence (2020–2025) on BPA regulations, substitution by bisphenol analogues, and occupational exposure. The 2016 data confirm that, prior to the 2020 European Union ban on BPA in thermal paper, Turkish receipts contained free BPA at 1–2 wt% levels, implying substantial dermal and indirect exposure for cashiers and consumers. Subsequent work indicates declining use of BPA in some regions but persistent contamination and “regrettable substitution” with structurally similar analogues such as BPS and BPF. The case study underscores the need for continued monitoring of both legacy and replacement developers, improved recycling practices, and targeted protection of high-contact worker groups.

Keywords

Bisphenol A; thermal paper; receipts; endocrine disruptor; HPLC-fluorescence; occupational exposure; Turkey; BPS; regulations.

1. Introduction

Bisphenol A (BPA; 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane) is one of the highest-volume industrial chemicals worldwide. It is used primarily in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins, but it has also been widely applied as a colour developer in thermal paper. In thermal receipts the BPA is present in free, non-polymerised form, mixed with leuco dyes and other additives in a coating on the paper surface. Because it is not covalently bound, it can transfer to skin, dust, food contact articles and the environment.

Concerns about BPA stem from its endocrine-disrupting properties. Experimental studies in rodents and observational human studies have linked BPA exposure to altered hormone signalling, reproductive and developmental effects, metabolic disorders, and potential neurobehavioural outcomes. Historically, risk assessments such as the 2006 European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opinion used a tolerable daily intake (TDI) of 0.05 µg kg⁻¹ body weight per day, while acknowledging uncertainties around low-dose effects.

For many years, attention focused on dietary exposure via epoxy-lined food cans and polycarbonate bottles. However, from around 2010, work by several groups highlighted thermal paper receipts as an important, and in some cases dominant, source of non-dietary BPA exposure, especially for cashiers and ticket sellers who handle thousands of receipts per week. Biomonitoring studies subsequently showed higher urinary BPA concentrations in these occupational groups compared with the general population.

In 2016, Yalçın et al. published a study in the Journal of the Turkish Chemical Society, Section A that quantified BPA in twelve thermal receipts collected in Mersin, Turkey. That paper filled a regional data gap and documented BPA levels in everyday Turkish receipts shortly before major regulatory shifts, including the European Union’s 2020 ban on BPA in thermal paper.

The goals of the present work are to:

1. Reconstruct and clearly summarise the design, methods and results of the 2016 study.
2. Critically evaluate its strengths and limitations as an exposure indicator.
3. Place the findings within the broader 2010–2025 literature on BPA in thermal paper and its replacements, especially BPS and BPF.
4. Extract practical implications for regulators, manufacturers of thermal paper, and users such as retailers and banks.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1 Sample collection and identity confirmation

Yalçın et al. collected twelve thermal paper receipts in 2016 from a range of everyday sources in Mersin:

• fax paper
• bank account and bank card receipts
• automated teller machine (ATM) receipt
• national lottery ticket
• gift store, gas station and restaurant receipts
• four supermarket receipts

The diversity of sources allowed comparison of BPA usage across sectors with varying transaction volumes. The thermal nature of the papers was confirmed by the classic heat-darkening test: brief contact with a hot object produced blackened areas on the paper coating.

Although the sample size was modest, the selection covered high-contact settings (supermarkets, banks) and specialised uses (lottery ticket, fax paper).

2.2 Extraction protocol

For each receipt, a 20 mg section of paper was cut into small pieces and transferred into 50 mL of ultrapure water. The suspensions were shaken at room temperature for 60 minutes to promote leaching of BPA into the aqueous phase. This simple water extraction was selected to mimic realistic transfer processes (contact with moist hands, sweat or environmental water) rather than maximise total BPA recovery.

2.3 HPLC-fluorescence analysis

The aqueous extracts were analysed by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection (HPLC-FLD):

• Instrument: Agilent 1200 series.
• Column: Supelco C18, 100 × 2.1 mm, 2.7 µm.
• Mobile phase: water/acetonitrile (60:40, v/v).
• Flow rate: 0.4 mL min⁻¹.
• Column temperature: 30 °C.
• Fluorescence: excitation at 225 nm, emission at 310 nm, wavelengths optimised for BPA.

Calibration was established over 25–200 µg L⁻¹ with excellent linearity (R² = 0.999). The method detection limit (LOD) was 3.3 µg L⁻¹, with an intra-day relative standard deviation of 1.1% at 30 µg L⁻¹ (n = 6). Each sample was extracted and analysed in triplicate, and mean BPA concentrations were reported as mg BPA per g of paper (mg g⁻¹) together with standard deviations.

The use of fluorescence detection offered high sensitivity and selectivity for BPA, though it does not differentiate isomers or detect other developers unless specifically targeted.

3. Results

3.1 BPA occurrence and concentration range

BPA was detected in all twelve thermal paper samples. The measured concentrations (mean ± SD, mg g⁻¹ paper) are summarised in Table 1.

Table 1. BPA levels in Turkish thermal papers (reconstructed from Yalçın et al., 2016)

Sample type	BPA (mg g⁻¹ paper ± SD)
Fax paper	7.26 ± 0.58
Bank account receipt	0.40 ± 0.11
Bank card receipt	14.96 ± 0.54
ATM receipt	15.00 ± 0.72
Lottery ticket	0.11 ± 0.05
Gift store receipt	12.94 ± 0.66
Gas station receipt	8.47 ± 0.33
Restaurant receipt	10.78 ± 0.67
Supermarket 1	7.59 ± 0.61
Supermarket 2	19.52 ± 0.71
Supermarket 3	20.14 ± 1.23
Supermarket 4	21.65 ± 0.83

Two samples—the bank account receipt and the lottery ticket—contained comparatively low BPA (0.40 and 0.11 mg g⁻¹), more than an order of magnitude below the other ten receipts. For the ten high-BPA papers, the mean concentration was 13.83 ± 0.69 mg g⁻¹, corresponding to roughly 1.4% by weight.

Supermarket receipts showed the highest loadings, up to 21.65 mg g⁻¹, followed closely by ATM and bank card receipts around 15 mg g⁻¹. These transaction types are handled intensively by cashiers and customers, highlighting potential occupational exposure.

3.2 International comparison

Yalçın et al. compared their high-BPA average (≈13.8 mg g⁻¹) to values reported in other countries:

• Belgium: ~15 mg g⁻¹
• Switzerland: ~13.5 mg g⁻¹
• USA: ~12.5 mg g⁻¹
• Japan, Korea, Vietnam: generally < LOD to 10 mg g⁻¹, reflecting earlier risk management and reduced BPA use.

The Turkish levels aligned closely with western European and North American data of the same period, indicating that Turkey’s thermal paper supply at that time relied heavily on BPA.

4. Discussion

4.1 Interpretation of the 2016 dataset

Despite the limited number of samples, several insights emerge:

1. Ubiquity of BPA – detection in all 12 receipts confirms that, in 2016, BPA-based developers dominated Turkish thermal paper, although a small proportion of receipts already appeared to rely on alternative systems.
2. Sector-specific differences – highest concentrations were found in supermarket receipts, consistent with intensive use of durable, high-contrast paper for fast point-of-sale systems. The very low levels in bank account receipts and lottery tickets suggest different supply chains or earlier adoption of BPA-free formulations.
3. Magnitude of loading – values around 10–20 mg g⁻¹ imply that 1–2% of the paper mass is free BPA. Depending on paper thickness, a single receipt may contain tens to hundreds of micrograms of BPA.
4. Analytical robustness – the HPLC-FLD method, triplicate measurements, and low RSD provide confidence in the reported numbers. Water extraction, while not exhaustive, mimics realistic leaching and therefore may be more relevant for dermal or aqueous exposure than aggressive solvent extraction.

4.2 Strengths and limitations

Strengths

• Real-world sampling across multiple everyday sources.
• Transparent and reproducible analytical protocol.
• Comparison with international data sets.
• Discussion of recycling and occupational implications, not just chemical analysis.

Limitations

• Small sample size from one city; national variability in brands and import chains is not captured.
• Single extraction condition, which cannot fully represent diverse environmental and dermal scenarios.
• No measurement of alternative developers (BPS, BPF, Pergafast® 201, D-8), so “BPA-free” or low-BPA papers cannot be fully characterised.
• No accompanying biomonitoring of workers to link paper concentrations with internal exposure.

Nonetheless, as a snapshot of the pre-ban situation, the dataset is highly informative.

4.3 Human exposure considerations

Several exposure assessments, notably by Geens and co-workers, have estimated that thermal paper handling leads to median intakes of around 445 ng BPA per day for the general population, with significantly higher values for occupationally exposed cashiers. In the 2016 Turkish context, receipts with 10–20 mg g⁻¹ BPA clearly represent a ready reservoir for transfer to the skin. Factors governing transfer include:

• contact time and frequency
• presence of sweat, skin lipids or hand creams
• handling behaviour (folding, scrunching, storing in pockets)
• whether hands are washed before eating

BPA from receipts can reach the body via dermal absorption and hand-to-mouth ingestion. The paper also stressed that receipts entering the recycling stream can contaminate tissues and food-contact materials, and that wastewater from recycling facilities may act as an environmental emission route.

4.4 Developments since 2016: regulations and substitution

Since publication of the original study, the regulatory landscape has changed substantially:

• The European Union banned BPA in thermal paper from January 2020, leading to a marked decline in BPA-based receipts within the EU. Surveys indicate that the proportion of thermal papers containing BPA has dropped sharply—from over 80% before the ban to around 10% within a few years in some surveys.
• However, multiple studies between 2020 and 2025 show that the ban has led to widespread use of bisphenol analogues, especially bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF). These compounds are structurally similar to BPA and display comparable estrogenic and endocrine-active properties in vitro and in vivo.
• Regional assessments in Türkiye and several Middle Eastern and Asian countries report a mixed picture: some receipts still contain BPA at mg g⁻¹ levels, while others use BPS, BPF or proprietary developers such as Pergafast® 201. A 2025 survey of Turkish receipts, for example, found both BPA and analogues co-occurring in some samples, indicating partial and incomplete phase-out.

Thus, the low-BPA receipts in the 2016 dataset can now be interpreted as early examples of substitution, but not necessarily as risk-free alternatives.

4.5 Implications for manufacturers and users

For manufacturers of thermal paper and for end-user businesses, several conclusions follow:

1. Specification transparency – buyers should request clear information from suppliers:
   • Is the paper BPA-free?
   • Is it also BPS/BPF-free?
   • Which colour developer is used?
2. Safer substitutes – non-phenolic developers (e.g. Pergafast® 201, D-8 or vitamin-C-based systems) appear promising, but must be evaluated for toxicity, thermal performance and recyclability.
3. Occupational protection – retailers and banks can reduce exposure by:
   • enabling electronic or “no receipt unless requested” policies,
   • providing guidance on hand washing before meals,
   • avoiding unnecessary handling of printed receipts.
4. Recycling management – segregating thermal paper from other paper streams or treating it separately can limit cross-contamination of recycled products.

5. Conclusion

The 2016 Mersin study provides a clear, quantitative snapshot of BPA use in Turkish thermal paper receipts in the pre-ban era. Concentrations of 10–22 mg g⁻¹ in most receipts confirm that, at that time, BPA was used at high loadings comparable to those in Western Europe and North America. Two low-BPA samples foreshadowed the current transition towards alternative developers, though subsequent research has shown that many substitutes share similar hazard profiles.

Re-examined from the vantage point of 2025, the paper remains an important baseline: it documents the magnitude of free BPA present in everyday receipts before regulatory actions and highlights key pathways of human and environmental exposure. Future work in Turkey and elsewhere should extend the approach by increasing sample numbers, routinely including BPS, BPF and newer developers in the analytical suite, and coupling paper analysis with biomonitoring of workers.

Ultimately, reducing exposure to endocrine-active developers in thermal paper will require a combination of regulation, informed procurement, safer chemistry and changes in receipt-printing practices. The 2016 dataset is a reminder of how quickly once-common materials can become obsolete when their hidden impacts are systematically measured and openly discussed.

References (indicative)

1. Yalçın, M. S.; Geçgel, C.; Battal, D. Determination of Bisphenol A in Thermal Paper Receipts. J. Turk. Chem. Soc. Sect. A 2016, 3 (3), 167–174. DOI: 10.18596/jotcsa.21345.
2. Geens, T.; et al. BPA Exposure from Thermal Paper Receipts. (summary as cited in the dataset).
3. European Commission. Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/2235 of 12 December 2016 Restricting the Use of BPA in Thermal Paper.
4. Recent regional and global surveys on BPA, BPS and BPF in receipts and on the effectiveness of the 2020 BPA ban (UAE, Türkiye, EU, India), as summarised in the provided dataset.

Last Updated on 12/12/2025 by Jota Machinery