Pollutants in Plastics within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Qiqing Chen; Julia Reisser; Serena Cunsolo; C.J.A.F Kwadijk; M.J.J Kotterman; Maira Proietti; Boyan Slat; Francesco Ferrari; Anna Schwarz; Aurore Levivier; Daqiang Yin; Henner Hollert; A.A Koelmans

doi:10.1021/acs.est.7b04682

Back

Pollutants in Plastics within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Pollutants in Plastics within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre

Qiqing Chen, Julia Reisser, Serena Cunsolo, C.J.A.F Kwadijk, M.J.J Kotterman, Maira Proietti, Boyan Slat, Francesco Ferrari, Anna Schwarz, Aurore Levivier, …

Environmental science & technology, Vol.52(2), pp.446-456

2017

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b04682

PMID: 29185716

Files and links (1)

pdf

Published4.82 MBDownload View

Published (Version of Record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access

Abstract

Great Pacific garbage pack

marine debris

microplastics

North Pacific subtropical gyre

persistant organic pollutants

plastic pollution

Here we report concentrations of pollutants in floating plastics from the North Pacific accumulation zone (NPAC). We compared chemical concentrations in plastics of different types and sizes, assessed ocean plastic potential risks using sediment quality criteria, and discussed the implications of our findings for bioaccumulation. Our results suggest that at least a fraction of the NPAC plastics is not in equilibrium with the surrounding seawater. For instance, “hard plastic” samples had significantly higher PBDE concentrations than “nets and ropes” samples, and 29% of them had PBDE composition similar to a widely used flame-retardant mixture. Our findings indicate that NPAC plastics may pose a chemical risk to organisms as 84% of the samples had at least one chemical exceeding sediment threshold effect levels. Furthermore, our surface trawls collected more plastic than biomass (180 times on average), indicating that some NPAC organisms feeding upon floating particles may have plastic as a major component of their diets. If gradients for pollutant transfer from NPAC plastic to predators exist (as indicated by our fugacity ratio calculations), plastics may play a role in transferring chemicals to certain marine organisms.

Details

Title: Pollutants in Plastics within the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
Authors/Creators: Qiqing Chen
Julia Reisser
Serena Cunsolo
C.J.A.F Kwadijk
M.J.J Kotterman
Maira Proietti
Boyan Slat
Francesco Ferrari
Anna Schwarz
Aurore Levivier
Daqiang Yin
Henner Hollert
A.A Koelmans
Publication Details: Environmental science & technology, Vol.52(2), pp.446-456
Publisher: American Chemical Society
Identifiers: 991005579961107891
Murdoch Affiliation: Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems
Language: English
Resource Type: Journal article

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#12 Responsible Consumption & Production

Metrics

19 Record Views

144 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Citation topics: 3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology; 3.60 Herbicides, Pesticides & Ground Poisoning; 3.60.2078 Microplastics
Web Of Science research areas: Engineering, Environmental; Environmental Sciences
ESI research areas: Environment/Ecology