Nanoplastic in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre

Halle, Alexandra ter; Jeanneau, Laurent; Martignac, Marion; Jardé, Émilie; Pedrono, Boris; Brach, Laurent; Gigault, Julien

doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b03667

Cited by 684 publications

(456 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…Ter Halle et al 10 . However, these authors did not perform static light scattering measurements and were therefore not able to quantitatively estimate the concentration of colloidal particles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They observed that nanoplastics with a broad range of sizes were produced over a period of weeks. More recently, Ter Halle et al 10 investigated seawater collected near the surface of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. The seawater was filtered through 1.2 µm pore size filters, and the filtrate was inspected for the presence of nanoplastics with dynamic light scattering.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterisation of Colloidal Particles in Seawater by Light Scattering Techniques

Balakrishnan¹,

Lagarde²,

Chassenieux³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Static (SLS) and dynamic (DLS) light scattering techniques are assessed for their capacity to detect colloidal particles with diameters between d = 0.1 and 0.8 µm at very low concentrations in seawater. The detection limit of the apparatus was determined using model monodisperse spherical polystyrene latex particles with diameters 0.2 µm and 0.5 µm. It is shown that the concentration and size of colloids can be determined down to about 10 -6 g/L. Seawater obtained from different locations in western Europe was characterized using light scattering. It was found that seawater filtered through 0.45 µm pore size membrane filters was within the experimental error the same as that of ultrapure Milli-Q water containing the same amount of sea salt and no colloids could be detected with DLS. When the seawater was filtered through 0.8 µm pore size filters, colloidal particles were detected. The measurements show that the concentration of colloids in the seawater samples is not higher than 10 -6 g/L and that they have an average diameter of about 0.6 µm. We stress that these particles are not necessarily nanoplastics.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterisation of Colloidal Particles in Seawater by Light Scattering Techniques

Balakrishnan¹,

Lagarde²,

Chassenieux³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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show abstract

“…Thus, nanoplastics have been shown to traverse food webs from algae to zooplankton to planktivorous fish to piscivorous fish 54 and can cause changes in the behaviour and metabolism of the fish along this feeding chain. 54 It is extremely difficult to identify nanoplastics in biological samples, 55 in part because of their small size and also that they are chemically very similar overall to organic matter, and furthermore, merely knowing that they are nanoplastics is not enough, since they must be further identified in terms of their chemical structures. From a survey of the literature, just one study appears to have been published to date, reporting the successful detection and chemical identification of nanoplastics in an actual environmental sample, which consisted of water taken from the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre ( Figure 5).…”

Section: Nanoplasticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Changes in the pyrolytic signals of PE with decreasing debris size were also noted, and it was concluded that this might be a result of structural modification of the plastic by weathering processes. 55 A review 56 has been made of recent developments in the separation and analysis of microplastics and nanoplastics, with particular reference to their determination in 'complex samples', such as organisms sampled in the field, and wastewater. A combination of different techniques is recommended, and it is suggested that methodological experience gained in different disciplines might be useful, such as cellular and molecular biology, which routinely employ separation techniques on the microscale and nanoscale.…”

Section: Nanoplasticsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solving the plastic problem: From cradle to grave, to reincarnation

Rhodes¹

2019

Science Progress

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Plastic packaging accounts for 36% of all plastics made, but amounts to 47% of all plastic waste; 90% of all plastic items are used once and then discarded, which corresponds to around 50% of the total mass of plastics manufactured. Evidence for the ubiquity of microplastic pollution is accumulating rapidly, and wherever such material is sought, it seems to be found. Thus, microplastics have been identified in Arctic ice, the air, food and drinking water, soils, rivers, aquifers, remote maintain regions, glaciers, the oceans and ocean sediments, including waters and deep sea sediments around Antarctica, and within the deepest marine trenches of the Earth. They have also been detected in the bodies of animals, including humans, and as being passed along the hierarchy of food chains, up to marine top predators. Evidence has also been presented that microplastics are able to cross different life stages of mosquito that use different habitats -larva (feeding) to pupa (non-feeding) to adult terrestrial (flying) -and therefore can be spread from aquatic systems by flying insects. The so-called 'missing plastic problem' appears to be, in part, due to limitations in sampling methods, that is, many of the very small microplastic particles may simply escape capture in the trawl nets that are typically employed to collect them, but have been evidenced in grab-sampling experiments. Moreover, it is simply not possible to measure entirely through the vast, oceanic volumes of the oceans. It can, however, be concluded with some confidence that the majority of the plastic is not located at the sea surface, and indeed, several different sinks have been proposed for microplastics, including the sea floor and sediments, the ocean column itself, ice sheets, glaciers and soils. The treatment of land with sewage sludge is also thought to make a significant contribution of microplastics to soil. A substantial amount of airborne microparticulate pollution is created by the abrasion of tyres on road surfaces (and other 'non-exhaust' sources), meaning that even electric vehicles are not 'clean' in this regard, despite their elimination of tailpipe PM 2.5 and PM 10 emissions. The emergence of nanoplastics in the environment poses a new set of potential threats, although any impacts on human health are not yet known, save, as indicated from model studies. While improved design, manufacture, collection, reuse, repurposing and reprocessing/recycling of plastic items are necessary, overwhelmingly, a Article Rhodes 219 curbing in the use of plastic materials in the first place is demanded, particularly from single-use packaging. However, plastic pollution is just one element in the overall matrix of a changing climate ('the world's woes') and must be addressed as part of an integrated consideration of how we use all resources, fossil and otherwise, and the need to change our expectations, goals and lifestyles. In this effort, the role of deglobalisation/relocalisation may prove critical: thus, food and other necessities might be produced more on...

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“…Pollution by plastic litter has become a major environmental problem resulting from their accumulation in terrestrial and marine environments. The fragmentation of plastics into microplastics is the most challenging issue [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] : in addition to the fact that microplastics are impossible to remove from the ocean, which is their ultimate receptacle, they are even more damaging than the macro waste. .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%