Abstract
The issue of microplastic (MP) litter in the aquatic environment and its capability of accumulating and/or releasing pollutants has been brought to light in recent years. Biodegradable plastics have been proposed as one of the different solutions to decrease environmental input of discarded plastics; however, their ability to accumulate and release pollutants once in the marine environment has not been assessed yet. In this study, we compare the accumulation and the release of a wide range of compounds by biodegradable (polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and polybutylene succinate (PBS)) and conventional (polyethylene (PE)) MPs following exposure to natural seawater for 64 days. We quantified polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), organophosphorus flame retardants (PFRs), phthalates, and alternative plasticizers in MPs, before and after exposure. Results indicated that PBS- and PHA-MPs accumulated the largest amount of PAHs and PFRs, respectively. Leaching of PFRs and plasticizers was observed for all polymers and was approximately twofold greater for PE- when compared to PBS- and PHA-MPs. Overall, our study suggests that biodegradable MPs may release less additives and accumulate a larger amount of contaminants from seawater compared to conventional ones: these findings may have implications on the risk assessment of biodegradable polymers for marine biota; and on potential widespread adoption of these types of plastics.
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Data availability
The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information files. Should any raw data files be needed in another format, they are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Christina Christia acknowledges a doctoral fellowship BOF DOCPRO 3 from the University of Antwerp. Giulia Poma acknowledges a post-doctoral fellowship from the University of Antwerp. We thank Dr T. Derez for assistance with the SEM imaging, G. Van Loon and his team for assembling MP exposure devices, and the Zeebrugge Belgian Navy Base personnel for lending us dock space.
Funding
Camilla Catarci Carteny received funding from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) through SB grant number 1S15417N; Elvio Diego Amato received funding from the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO) through SB grant number 12U9618N.
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Conceptualization: Camilla Catarci Carteny; methodology: Elvio Diego Amato, Adrian Covaci, Nicolas Estoppey, Giulia Poma; investigation: Elvio Diego Amato, Camilla Catarci Carteny, Christina Christia, Fabienne Pfeiffer; formal analysis: Elvio Diego Amato, Camilla Catarci Carteny; writing—original draft preparation: Camilla Catarci Carteny; writing—review and editing: Elvio Diego Amato, Camilla Catarci Carteny, Christina Christia, Adrian Covaci, Nicolas Estoppey, Fabienne Pfeiffer, Giulia Poma; resources and supervision: Ronny Blust, Adrian Covaci, Nicolas Estoppey.
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Catarci Carteny, C., Amato, E.D., Pfeiffer, F. et al. Accumulation and release of organic pollutants by conventional and biodegradable microplastics in the marine environment. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 77819–77829 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27887-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27887-1