PDF Publication Title:
Text from PDF Page: 015
With regard to microplastics, the primary findings of microplastics in the marine environment were PP, LDPE, HDPE and PET. These findings corroborate the theory that most microplastics stem from weathering of lost macroplastics as the identified plastic types are often used in macroplastics related to ocean/ maritime activities and short-lived consumer goods part of MSW, such as packaging. The findings of microplastics also correspond well with the estimated losses of microplastics from city dust, use of cosmetics and personal care products, and textile washing. The reported findings of PP, nylon and PS are likely to also be a result of weathering of macroplastics from fishing nets, fishing gears, floats, and other equipment related to maritime activities which are directly lost to oceans. An exception was polymers related to tyres where, although estimated to be the largest loss of microplastics, reporting of these plastics in the marine environment could not be retrieved. | Effects of micro- and macroplastic on marine organisms The unit of mass of macro- and microplastics in the oceans is not an appropriate indicator of impacts, as it does not capture the actual damages to environment and human health and their dependence on the type and properties of the plastics. A necessity when aiming to identify hotspots and make sound decisions is therefore to understand the impacts of different plastic types on the marine environment. Macroplastics impact all types of marine animals such as invertebrates, fish, reptiles, birds, mammals, and amphibians. Macroplastics in the oceans are particularly problematic because the physical characteristics of the macroplastics can lead to animals being entangled in the plastic or ingesting the plastics, thus ending up by killing themselves. Most animals killed by marine plastics are undiscovered as the animals either sink to the bottom (e.g. fish) or are eaten by other animals making it near-impossible to observe and monitor the extent of the impacts, especially when considering the large ocean area over which the affected animals may spread. In addition, With a particular focus on marine environment macroplastics can be degraded into microplastics in the oceans and, thereby, cause impacts as microplastics. The most problematic macroplastic types appear to be bags, fishing lines and nets, and rope. These all correspond well with estimated losses and with the dominating findings of macroplastics in the marine environment. There are numerous potential impacts related to microplastics. Problems relate to intake of microplastics by the marine organisms where potentially hazardous substances may be carried with the microplastic. For instance, residual monomers or additives in the plastic or other chemicals sorbed to the plastics from the surrounding environment. The hazardous chemicals can potentially leach from the microplastics and be taken up by the marine organisms, thereby, causing adverse toxic effects. There are also potential physical impacts related to the microplastics, such as reduction in feeding activity/rate/capacity, moreover, the plastic particles may also be taken up in organs, cells and tissues (e.g. through uptake of nano-sized plastic particles) which can lead to particle toxicity. Essentially all plastic types can cause physical impacts, where impacts are primarily related to physical microplastic characteristics, such as particle size. With regards to hazardous chemicals, due to the potential leaching of additives from polymers, a particular focus should be on limiting losses of PVC as the majority of additives are used in PVC. Moreover, the monomers related to production of PUR, polyacrylonitrile (PAN; e.g. used as part of acrylic fibers and for production of ABS, SAN and ASA), and PVC plastics were ranked highest in terms of hazardousness. Hence, a particular focus should be on reducing residual monomer content when producing these plastics and to limit general losses of these plastics. Microplastic debris may also provide a substrate for organisms which may drift long distances and pose an ecological impact via transport of non-native species. In general, knowledge about the impacts on microplastics on the marine environment is still lacking and further research on the different potential impacts is required. Mapping of global plastics value chain and plastics losses to the environment Technical summary | 13PDF Image | Mapping of global plastics value chain
PDF Search Title:
Mapping of global plastics value chainOriginal File Name Searched:
2018-plastics-global-hotspots.pdfDIY PDF Search: Google It | Yahoo | Bing
Development of a solar powered Electric Ship The Electricship website originally started off as a project to develop a comprehensive renewable, affordable, modular electric ship... More Info
Modular Boat Hull Composite The case for a unsinkable, modular composite hybrid boat hull... More Info
MS Burgenstock Hybrid Electric Catamaran Lake Lucerne Unique shuttle servicing Lucerne to the Burgenstock Resort... More Info
Ground Power Unit GPU Powered by Lithium Ion Batteries The goal of the Ground Power Unit is to provide a readily accessible, modular, ready-to-power solution for remote power... More Info
CONTACT TEL: 608-238-6001 Email: greg@electricship.com (Standard Web Page)