Elsevier, Damia Barcelo and Thomas Knepper, TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 30 July 2019
This special issue’s focus on micro-plastics in the environment supports multiple SDGs. As a result of global plastic production and consumption practices, micro- and nanoplastics are emerging pollutants in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. Research continues to identify microplastic’s detrimental impacts on biota, ecosystem services and human health.
SDG 9, target 5 encourages enhanced scientific research and technological capabilities across all countries. This special issue seeks to explore current microplastic research and enhance scientific methodologies and analytical techniques surrounding micro- and nanoplastic in the environment. Strengthening of microplastic research will significantly support many of the SDGs, including SDGs 3 (good health and well-being), 12 (responsible consumption and production), 14 (life below water) and 15 (life on land).
Elsevier, TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Volume 114, May 2019
The presence of small plastic particles in the environment, reported for the first time in the 1970's, has only recently been recognized as a global issue. Although environmental awareness continues to grow, so does its consumption and associated risks. The number of studies reporting the presence of microplastics, has grown exponentially as did the concern over plastic degradation into smaller particles like nanoplastics, a potentially more pernicious form of plastic pollution.
Elsevier, TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Volume 113, April 2019
Although the study of the effects of microplastics increased in the last years, terrestrial ecosystems remain less studied. In fact, the effects of microplastics in insects, the most abundant group of animals and major providers of key Ecosystem Services, are not well known despite the potential cascading negative effects on the ecosystems functioning in the habitats where they occur.
Microplastics are emerging pollutants in aquatic and terrestrial environments. In the last years, several case studies and reviews have been published about microplastics in freshwater and marine environments. However, no standardized methods are available for sampling and sample preparation. Based on literature research, this review presents different techniques and methods for sampling as well as the preparation of microplastic samples from water, sediment and biota of freshwater and marine environments.
Plastics are an integral but largely inconspicuous part of human daily routines. Associated with a high production and single use nature of several products, small plastic particles became ubiquitous. Due to processes like water currents and winds, plastics may occur far from their place of origin and affect biota at different environmental compartments. In the environment plastics can degrade into increasingly smaller particles, reaching a nanometer size which increases their potential to be incorporated by organisms.
Elsevier, TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Volume 111, February 2019
The quantification of micro- and nanoplastics in environmental matrices is an analytical challenge and pushes to the use of unrealistic high exposure concentrations in laboratory studies which can lead to manifestations of ecotoxicological effects and risks estimation that are transient under natural conditions.
Nanoplastic is an emerging topic of relevance in environmental science. The analytical methods for microplastic have a particle size limit of a few micrometers so that new methods have to be developed to cover the nanometer range. This contribution reviews the progress in environmental nanoplastic analysis and critically evaluates which techniques from nanomaterial analysis may potentially be adapted to close the methodological gap. A roadmap is brought forward for the whole analytical process from sample treatment to particle characterization.
Following a decade of research on the environmental impacts of microplastics, a knowledge gap remains on the processes by which micro and nanoplastics pass across biological barriers, enter cells and are subject to biological mechanisms. Here we summarize available literature on the accumulation of microplastics and their associated contaminants in a variety of organisms including humans. Most data on the accumulation of microplastics in both field and lab studies are for marine invertebrates.
The presence of plastic debris in the ocean is increasing and several effects in the marine environment have been reported. A great number of studies have demonstrated that microplastics (MPs) adsorb organic compounds concentrating them several orders of magnitude than the levels found in their surrounding environment, therefore they could be potential vectors of these contaminants to biota. However, a consensus on MPs as vectors of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) has not been reached since are opposing views among different researchers on this topic.
Elsevier, TrAC - Trends in Analytical Chemistry, Volume 111, February 2019
Characterising microplastics based on spectroscopic measurements is one key step of many studies that analyse the fate of microplastics in the environment. Over the years, many potential sources of error were identified, which can be seen by the implementation of anti-contamination protocols, measuring laboratory blanks or using less aggressive chemicals for sample purification. However, the identification process itself in the meaning of a traceable and transparent documentation is hard to find in many research studies.
High amounts of macro and microplastic have been reported in rivers, lakes and seas. However, links between the observed pollution and their sources remain unclear. This study aims to clarify these links in the Lake Geneva basin by analysing each step of the local plastic life cycle. Two distinct approaches have been compared: (i) a top-down approach based on modelling socio-economic activities, plastic losses and releases into the lake, and, (ii) a bottom-up approach based on extrapolating plastic flows into the lake based on field measurements from 6 different pathways.
