From macroplastics to microplastics: Role of water in the fragmentation of polyethylene

Julienne, Fanon; Delorme, Nicolas; Lagarde, Fabienne

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.124409

Cited by 235 publications

(102 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…As with surface water, sediments contained more small-sized MPs, which was consistent with the results of Di [47]. The high content of small-sized MPs may be due to mechanical or weathering degradation of large particles or direct crushing of plastic products [68,69]. The main color of MPs in sediments was transparent, and most MPs of this color came from fishing tools, such as fishing ropes and fishing nets [67,70].…”

Section: Pollution Of Mps In Sedimentsupporting

confidence: 82%

Microplastics Environmental Effect and Risk Assessment on the Aquaculture Systems from South China

Chen

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The small size of microplastics and their wide distribution in water environments have attracted worldwide attention and heated discussion, because of their ingestion by aquatic organisms. At present, there are few studies on microplastics pollution in freshwater aquaculture ponds, especially shrimp ponds. In this study, the aquaculture ponds in the Pearl River Estuary were investigated. The abundance and composition of microplastics in different environmental media were studied to explore the potential sources and risk levels of microplastics, so as to provide basic data for the study of microplastics pollution in aquaculture ponds. Microplastics were observed in water and sediment samples at all sampling sites, with the abundance of 6.6 × 103–263.6 × 103 items/m3 (surface water) and 566.67–2500 items/kg (sediment), respectively. Thirty-seven individuals collected in six ponds belong to four species. Microplastics were observed in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of all fishes and shrimps, with the abundance ranging from 3–92 items/individual (fish) and 4–21 items/individual (shrimp). Among all samples, microplastics with the size range of <1 mm and fiber shape were the most common. The main microplastic components were cellulose, polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene (PE). The results of potential risk assessment showed that the pollution investigation of microplastics should not only consider the abundance. Low abundance does not mean low risk. Taking the toxicity score and abundance of microplastics as evaluation indexes to reflect the pollution status of microplastics may make the results more reliable.

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Section: Pollution Of Mps In Sedimentsupporting

confidence: 82%

Microplastics Environmental Effect and Risk Assessment on the Aquaculture Systems from South China

Chen

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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“…Lambert and Wagner (2016) demonstrated the breakdown of plastics to the nano scale by simulated sunlight in the laboratory yielded nanoplastic (NP) from polystyrene cup lids in just 56 days [40]. The breakdown of MP to NP by sunlight is a very real phenomena and coupled with wave action and abrasion to accelerate the process, could mean an increased number of available NP particles in the environment as larger plastic items break up over time [41][42][43]. In conjunction with UV, abrasion and temperature MP degradation to NP, emerging research also illustrates aquatic biota's degradation effect.…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Examination of the ocean as a source for atmospheric microplastics

et al. 2020

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Global plastic litter pollution has been increasing alongside demand since plastic products gained commercial popularity in the 1930's. Current plastic pollutant research has generally assumed that once plastics enter the ocean they are there to stay, retained permanently within the ocean currents, biota or sediment until eventual deposition on the sea floor or become washed up onto the beach. In contrast to this, we suggest it appears that some plastic particles could be leaving the sea and entering the atmosphere along with sea salt, bacteria, virus' and algae. This occurs via the process of bubble burst ejection and wave action, for example from strong wind or sea state turbulence. In this manuscript we review evidence from the existing literature which is relevant to this theory and follow this with a pilot study which analyses microplastics (MP) in sea spray. Here we show first evidence of MP particles, analysed by μRaman, in marine boundary layer air samples on the French Atlantic coast during both onshore (average of 2.9MP/m 3) and offshore (average of 9.6MP/ m 3) winds. Notably, during sampling, the convergence of sea breeze meant our samples were dominated by sea spray, increasing our capacity to sample MPs if they were released from the sea. Our results indicate a potential for MPs to be released from the marine environment into the atmosphere by sea-spray giving a globally extrapolated figure of 136000 ton/yr blowing on shore. Missing plastic in the marine microplastic models Since the first evidence of anthropogenic plastic litter affecting sea birds in the 1960's [1,2] there has been a steadily growing awareness that plastics are becoming a major pollutant. According to the plastic industries figures, around 359 million tons of plastic was manufactured globally in 2018 (up from 334 million tons in 2016) [3], of which 60 million tons were produced in Europe. Mattsson et al. (2015) estimate that around 10% of all plastic produced is lost to the sea each year [4]. A 2010 estimation suggests between 4.8-12.7 million tons of plastic entered the oceans from coastal and terrestrial areas, with up to 92% of this being <4.75mm in size [5].

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“…The degradation of different plastic materials resulted in a measurable increase in the release of particles into the surrounding solution, with as many as a few million particles found per milliliter after 112 days of degradation [13]. A study of artificial photodegradation and fragmentation of PE films in air and water found that fragmentation only occurred in water, although air weathering did result in higher levels of oxidation [14]. Furthermore, after 25 weeks of weathering in water, 90% of the fragments were under 1mm in size, with very similar shapes, while micrometric fragments were not yet abundant.…”

Section: Degradation Of Plastic Materials To Microplasticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From plastics to microplastics and organisms

Bajt

2021

FEBS Open Bio

132

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The amount of plastic waste and microplastics released into marine environments has increased rapidly in recent decades. The durability of plastic materials results in major problems following their release into the environment. This study provides an overview of recent findings on issues related to plastic degradation, the accumulation of microplastics in mussels and fishes, and the toxicological effects associated with the ingestion of microplastics. These findings confirm the serious problem of slowly degrading plastics (which rarely degrade fully) in natural marine environments. Microplastics have become widespread pollutants and have been detected in mussels and fish around the world. Microplastic particles, whether virgin or with adsorbed pollutants on their surfaces, pose a health problem after being ingested by marine organisms. This paper ends by highlighting the need for certain improvements in studies of these phenomena.

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From macroplastics to microplastics: Role of water in the fragmentation of polyethylene

Cited by 235 publications

References 34 publications

Microplastics Environmental Effect and Risk Assessment on the Aquaculture Systems from South China

Microplastics Environmental Effect and Risk Assessment on the Aquaculture Systems from South China

Examination of the ocean as a source for atmospheric microplastics

From plastics to microplastics and organisms

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