The invention discloses a method for detecting heavy metals in plastics. The method comprises the following steps: S1. putting the plastics to be detected in an airtight container filled with an organic solvent, and carrying out ultrasonic oscillation in a water bath to dissolve the plastics, thus obtaining a plastic dissolution solution; S2. adding dilute nitric acid to the plastic dissolution solution, carrying out ultrasonic oscillation at room temperature, and carrying out filtration, washing and constant volume achievement to extract heavy metals in the plastic dissolution solution, thus obtaining a solution to be detected, containing the organic solvent; S3. qualitatively and quantitatively analyzing the heavy metals in the solution to be detected by adopting an inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES). The method has the beneficial effects that by utilizing the characteristic that the plastics have better solubility in the organic solvent, the plastics are dissolved by using the proper organic solvent, and then the heavy metals in the plastics are extracted to form the solution to be detected, containing the organic solvent; then the heavy metals dissolved in the organic solvent are qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed by adopting the ICP-OES. The method has the advantages of simple and fast operating process, mild reaction conditions, accuracy in detection, high recovery rate and good stability and is suitable for mass treatment.