Abstract
Additive metals are continuously released into the environment during the photo-degradation of plastics into microplastics, but this phenomenon has not been reported by many studies. Herein, we investigated the surface morphology changes along with the release of additive metals (Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Cu, Zn, and Pb) during the degradation of three types of plastics, i.e., polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), under UV light irradiation. FTIR results showed that 168 days of UV-irradiation led to the primary degradation of each plastic sample. The metal release could be found after 70 days UV-irradiation. The rate of metal release for the three plastics showed the following order: PP > PET ≈ PVC. In addition, the distribution and concentrations of the metals in the plastic could influence the release characteristics of each metal. Low release rate of Fe symbolized by the total metal release in the range of 4.28 ~10.27% as evident from the results of the primary degradation experiment, indicated the release of Fe occurring in the late stage of the plastic degradation or even in the microplastics-formation stage. As for the release of Co from PP, it was far lower than that of the other elements (0.35%), showing the same release characteristics as that of Fe. On the contrary, the release ratio of Pb from PP was 78.89% and was mainly concentrated in the early stage of the plastic degradation. The results help understanding the release behavior of the additive metals during the degradation of typical plastics under ultraviolet light irradiation.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The authors declare the availability of data and material.
References
Andrady AL (2016) Environmental Sustainability of Plastics. John Wiley. Hoboken, New Jersey.
Andrady AL (2017) The plastic in microplastics: a review. Marine Poll Bull 119(1):12–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.01.082
Ashton K, Holmes L, Tuener A (2010) Association of metals with plastic production pellets in the marine environment. Marine Pollut Bull 60(11):2050–2055. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2010.07.014
Barnes DKA, Galgani F, Thompson RC, Barlaz M (2009) Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments. Philos Transac R Soc B364(1526):1985–1998. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2008.0205
Brennecke D, Duarte B, Paiva F, Caçador I, Canning-Clode J (2016) Microplastics as vector for heavy metal contamination from the marine environment. Estuarine Coastal Shelf Sci 178:189–195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecss.2015.12.003
Cai L, Wang J, Peng J, Wu Z, Tan X (2018) Observation of the degradation of three types of plastic pellets exposed to UV irradiation in three different environments. Sci Total Environ628-629:740–747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.079
Cole M, Lindeque P, Halsband C, Galloway TS (2011) Microplastics as contaminants in the marine environment: a review. Marine Pollut Bull 62(12):2588–2597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.09.025
Cooper DA, Corcoran PL (2010) Effects of mechanical and chemical processes on the degradation of plastic beach debris on the island of Kauai, Hawaii. Marine Pollut Bull60(5):650–654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.12.026
Corcoran PL, Biesinger MC, Grif M (2009) Plastics and beaches: a degradingrelationship. Marine Pollut Bull 58(1):80–84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2008.08.022
Cornelia, Vasile, (2000). Handbook of polyolefins, Marcel Dekker (ed), 2nd ed., Revised and Expanded. New York
Eriksen M, Mason S, Wilson S, Box C, Zellers A, Edwards W, Farley H, Amato S (2013) Microplastic pollution in the surface waters of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Marine Pollut Bull77(1-2):177–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2013.10.007
Fu Z, Wang J (2019) Current practices and future perspectives of microplastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems in China. Sci Total Environ 691:697–712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.07.167
Gewert B, Plassmann MM, MacLeod M (2015) Pathways for degradation of plastic polymers floating in the marine environment. Environ Sci Processes Impacts 17(9):1513–1521. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5em00207a
Helmroth IE, 2002. Release of Additives from Packaging Plastics. Ph.D. thesis. Wageningen University, The Netherlands
Hidalgo-Ruz V, Gutow L, Thompson RC, Thiel M (2012) Microplastics in the marine environment: A review of the methods used for identification and quantification. Environ Sci Technol 46(6):3060–3075. https://doi.org/10.1021/es2031505
Hinai H, Takada H, Ogata Y et al. (2011) Organic micropollutants in marine plastics debris from the open ocean and remote and urban beaches. Marine Pollut Bull 62(8):1683–1692. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2011.06.004
Holmes LA, Turner A, Thompson RC (2012) Adsorption of trace metals to plastic resin pellets in the marine environment. Environ Pollut 160:42–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2011.08.052
Horton AA, Walton A, Spurgeon DJ, Lahive E, Svendsen C (2017) Microplastics in freshwater and terrestrial environments: Evaluating the current understanding to identify the knowledge gaps and future research priorities. Sci Total Environ 586:127–141. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.01.190
Ivar JA, Costa MF (2014) The present and future of microplastic pollution in the marine environment. Environ Pollut 185:352–364. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2013.10.036
Iñiguez ME, Conesa JA, Fullana A (2018) Recyclability of four types of plastics exposed to UV irradiation in a marine environment. Waste Manag 79:339–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2018.08.006
John, WN (2012). The chemistry of polymers, RSC Pub., Cambridge
Johnston EL, Roberts DA (2009) Contaminants reduce the richness and evenness of marine communities: a review. Environ Pollut 157:1745–1752. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2009.02.017
Krzysztof P, James N (2005). Thermal degradation of polymeric materials. Rapra Technology Limited, Shawbury
Lancellotti DA, Stotz WB (2004) Effects of shoreline discharge of iron mine tailings on a marine soft-bottom community in northern Chile. Marine Pollut Bull 48(3–4):303–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2003.08.005
Lehtimäki E, Väisänen A (2017) Determination of metal concentrations in certified plastic reference materials after small-size autoclave and microwave-assisted digestion followed with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Spectrochim Acta Part B 127:64–69. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sab.2016.11.011
Lithner D, Larsson Å, Dave G (2011) Environmental and health hazard ranking and assessment of plastic polymers based on chemical composition. Sci Total Environ 409(18):3309–3324. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.04.038
Liu H, Liu K, Fu H, Ji R, Qu X (2020). Sunlight mediated cadmium release from colored microplastics containing cadmium pigment in aqueous phase. Environ Pollut, 114484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114484
Ma Y, Huang A, Cao S, Sun F, Wang L, Guo H, Ji R (2016) Effects of nanoplastics and microplastics on toxicity, bioaccumulation, and environmental fate of phenanthrene in fresh water. Environ Pollut 219:166–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.10.061
Mato Y, Isobe T, Takada H, Kanehiro H, Ohtake C, Kaminuma T (2001) Plastic resin pellets as a transport medium for toxic chemicals in the marine environment. Environ Sci Technol 35(2):318–324. https://doi.org/10.1021/es0010498
McKinley AC, Miskiewicz A, Taylor MD, Johnston EL (2011) Strong links between metal contamination, habitat modification and estuarine larval fish distributions. Environ Pollut159(6):1499–1509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2011.03.008
Mohsen M, Wang Q, Zhang L, Sun L, Lin C, Yang H (2019) Heavy metals in sediment, microplastic and sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus from farms in China. Marine Pollut Bull 143:42–49. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.04.025
Murphy J (2003). Additives for Plastic Handbook. Elsevier Advanced Technology, Oxford, UK
Niaounakis M (2017). Degradation of Plastics in the Marine Environment. Management of Marine Plastic Debris, 127–142. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-323-44354-8.00003-3
Peng G, Zhu B, Yang D, Su L, Shi H, Li D (2017) Microplastics in sediments of the Changjiang Estuary, China. Environ Pollut 225:283–290. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.12.064
Prunier J, Maurice L, Perez E, Gigault J, Pierson Wickmann A-C, Davranche M, Halle A. ter. (2018). Trace metals in polyethylene debris from the North Atlantic subtropical gyre. Environ Pollut. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.10.043
Rochman CM, Hentschel BT, Teh SJ (2014) Long-term sorption of metals is similar among plastic types: Implications for plastic debris in aquatic environments. PLoS ONE 9(1):e85433. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0085433
Singh B, Sharma N (2008) Mechanistic implications of plastic degradation. Polym Degrad Stab 93(3):561–584. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2007.11.008
Song YK, Hong SH, Jang M, Han GM, Jung SW, Shim WJ (2017) Combined Effects of UV Exposure Duration and Mechanical Abrasion on Microplastic Fragmentation by Polymer Type. Environ Sci Technol 51(8):4368–4376. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b06155
Sun CH (2018) Pollution and ecological risk of microplastics and heavy metals in bohai Bay Coastal Intertidal Zone. Tianjin, Tianjin Normal University
Tchounwou PB, Yedjou CG, Patlolla AK, Sutton DJ (2012). Heavy Metal Toxicity and the Environment. Molecular, Clinical and Environmental Toxicology, 133–164. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8340-4_6
Wang J, Peng J, Tan Z, Gao Y, Zhan Z, Chen Q, Cai L (2017) Microplastics in the surface sediments from the Beijiang River littoral zone: Composition, abundance, surface textures and interaction with heavy metals. Chemosphere 171:248–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.12.074
Wang Q, Zhang Y, Wangjin X, Wang Y, Meng G, Chen Y (2020) The adsorption behavior of metals in aqueous solution by microplastics effected by UV radiation. J Environ Sci 87:272–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jes.2019.07.006
Zbyszewski M, Corcoran PL (2011) Distribution and degradation of fresh water plastic particles along the beaches of Lake Huron, Canada. Water Air Soil Pollut 220(1-4):365–372. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-011-0760-6
Zbyszewski M, Corcoran PL, Hockin A (2014) Comparison of the distribution and degradation of plastic debris along shorelines of the Great Lakes, North America. J Great Lakes Res 40(2):288–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2014.02.012
Acknowledgements
The authors want to thank the Guangzhou Sugarcane Industry Research Institute, and especially Minxing Huang for assistance in sample detecting. This study was partially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program “Marine Environment Security Project” (No. 2018YFC1406503; 2017YFB0903703), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41876129) and Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2018A030313136), Key Special Project for Introduced Talents Team of Southern Marine Science and Engineering, Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (GML2019ZD0404) and the Science and Technology Planning Project of Guangdong Province (2017B030314052), Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Forestry Administration (2020-KYXM-08).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Ethical approval
This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. The authors agree with the publication of the manuscript in this form.
Informed consent
All the related authors have known the informed consent.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Feng, W., Huang, C., Tan, X. et al. Release of the additive metals from 3 commonly used plastics during the degradation under the treatment of UV irradiation. Ecotoxicology 31, 75–84 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-021-02467-6
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-021-02467-6