Determination of the selected heavy metal and metalloid contents in various types of plastic bags

Abstract

The immense plastic bags (PBs) consumption is the potential threat for environment and public health due to discharging toxic pollutants (i.e., metals and metalloids) throughout its entire life cycle. The purpose of the study was to investigate the heavy metal (HM) contents in PE, HDPE, LDPE and PVC bags with several colors and applications. The HM contents in the PB were analyzed by ICP-OES after acid digestion. Results demonstrated that the HM contents in PB notably disagreed based on the used polymer types, colors and applications.

COVID-19 discarded disposable gloves as a source and a vector of pollutants in the environment

“…Except of gloves, trace elements were detected in raw PE ( Munier and Bendell, 2018 ), particles of plastic bags ( Alam et al, 2019 , Alam et al, 2018 ), litters ( Nakashima et al, 2011 , Turner, 2017 ), micro- and macro plastics ( Munier and Bendell, 2018 , Turner et al, 2019 ), and debris ( Prunier et al, 2019 ) made of PE (both LDPE and HDPE). Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn concentrations were studied most often and the obtained results are collected in Table 2 .…”

“…in the range from 92.5 to 29200 µg/g in beached filamentous plastic litters ( Turner, 2017 ). Mn was determined in PE, HDPE and LDPE bags, but their content varied from below detection limit to 25.1 µg/g ( Alam et al, 2019 , Alam et al, 2018 ). Other heavy metals (Bi, Hg, Ni, Sn, Sr, Ti, and V) rarely occurred in PE particles or their concentration was relatively low ( Prunier et al, 2019 , Turner, 2017 , Turner et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Due to the limited data on the content of contaminants in PVC-based gloves, some information about the existing problem and a potential risk may be provided by analysis of data of other PVC products. Heavy metals were detected in raw PVC ( Munier and Bendell, 2018 ), PVC microplastics ( Boyle et al, 2020a ), and PVC products such as toys ( Turner, 2018 ) or bags ( Alam et al, 2019 , Alam et al, 2018 ). Among the analyzed PVC materials, PVC bags ( Alam et al, 2019 , Alam et al, 2018 ) showed the highest content of the most determined heavy metals (Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu and Zn, Table 2 ).…”

“…Heavy metals were detected in raw PVC ( Munier and Bendell, 2018 ), PVC microplastics ( Boyle et al, 2020a ), and PVC products such as toys ( Turner, 2018 ) or bags ( Alam et al, 2019 , Alam et al, 2018 ). Among the analyzed PVC materials, PVC bags ( Alam et al, 2019 , Alam et al, 2018 ) showed the highest content of the most determined heavy metals (Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu and Zn, Table 2 ). In case of Pb, the PVC microplastics (MPs) contained the highest on performed experiments on zebrafish, authors concluded that the amount of Pb released from PVC MPs may cause a negative response in zebrafish, while PVC may pose a long-term environmental Pb reservoir available for aquatic animals ( Boyle et al, 2020a ).…”

Spectro-analytical Research of Selected Heavy Metals (Cu, Cd, Cr, and Pb) in Four Different Single-use Plastics Commonly in Contact with Food from Sokoto, Nigeria

“…However, across the globe few empirical studies have reported levels of heavy metals in an array of plastics types. Most of the researches are dealing with levels of heavy metals in electronics and single use plastics in contacts with food or plastics in waste [20] [23]. For instance, A study on plastic toys imported from China to Northwestern Nigeria determined lead, cadmium, nickel, copper, zinc, chromium, cobalt and manganese with 17% of them having high levels more than USFDA recommendations; which poses threat to children exposed to these toys, and public health [19].…”