Plastitar: A new threat for coastal environments

Domínguez-Hernández, Cristopher; Villanova-Solano, Cristina; Sevillano-González, Marta; Hernández-Sánchez, Cintia; González‐Sálamo, Javier; Ortega-Zamora, Cecilia; Díaz-Peña, Francisco Javier

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.156261

Cited by 23 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Owing to the spilled plastics’ more oxygenated surfaces, , their interactions with petroleum likely changed compared to those with unaltered plastic . The formation of petroplastics and other possible variants of oil-plastic agglomerates (e.g., plastitars , ) during the disaster suggests the need for further study to assess their environmental impact …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire and Oil Led to Complex Mixtures of PAHs on Burnt and Unburnt Plastic during the M/V X-Press Pearl Disaster

et al. 2023

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In May 2021, the M/V X-Press Pearl container ship burned for 2 weeks, leading to the largest maritime spill of resin pellets (nurdles). The disaster was exacerbated by the leakage of other cargo and the ship's underway fuel. This disaster affords the unique opportunity to study a time-stamped, geolocated release of plastic under real-world conditions. Field samples collected from beaches in Sri Lanka nearest to the ship comprised nurdles exposed to heat and combustion, burnt plastic pieces (pyroplastic), and oil-plastic agglomerates (petroplastic). An unresolved question is whether the 1600+ tons of spilled and recovered plastic should be considered hazardous waste. Due to the known formation and toxicity of combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), we measured 20 parent and 21 alkylated PAHs associated with several types of spilled plastic. The maximum PAH content of the sampled pyroplastic had the greatest amount of PAHs recorded for marine plastic debris (199,000 ng/g). In contrast, the sampled unburnt white nurdles had two orders of magnitude less PAH content. The PAH composition varied between the types of spilled plastic and presented features typical of and conflicting with petrogenic and pyrogenic sources. Nevertheless, specific markers and compositional changes for burning plastics were identified, revealing that the fire was the main source of PAHs. Eight months after the spill, the PAH contents of sampled stray nurdles and pyroplastic were reduced by more than 50%. Due to their PAH content exceeding levels allowable for plastic consumer goods, classifying burnt plastic as hazardous waste may be warranted. Following a largely successful cleanup, we recommend that the Sri Lankans re-evaluate the identification, handling, and disposal of the plastic debris collected from beaches and the potential exposure of responders and the public to PAHs from handling it. The maritime disaster underscores pyroplastic as a type of plastic pollution that has yet to be fully explored, despite the pervasiveness of intentional and unintentional burning of plastic globally.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fire and Oil Led to Complex Mixtures of PAHs on Burnt and Unburnt Plastic during the M/V X-Press Pearl Disaster

et al. 2023

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“…Pyroplastic is detected in the coastal areas of Great Britain, Spain, and Canada, and it has been stated that plasticrust has evolved in the coasts and marine habitats of Portugal and Italy (Ehlers et al, 2021). A unique plastitar variant (an agglomeration of tar and mostly microplastic adhered to the rock surface) was discovered in the Canary Islands, Spain (Domínguez‐Hernández et al, 2022; Roy Chowdhury et al, 2023). The occurrence of these species on the coastline is noteworthy as a result of the existence of tar, which may get photo‐oxidized, resulting in a detrimental influence on the marine environment thereby altering the ecological balance.…”

Section: Formation Of New Plastic Waste Variants: a Concern For Coast...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Photographs of (a) microplastic, (b) plasticrust, (c) plastiglomerate, (d) pyroplastic, and (e,f) plastitar variants affecting the coastal and marine ecosystem (Reproduced with permission from Domínguez‐Hernández et al, 2022 © Elsevier).…”

Section: Formation Of New Plastic Waste Variants: a Concern For Coast...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of emerging and novel plastic waste variants on marine and coastal ecosystems: Challenges and implications on the circular economy

Chowdhury

Medhi²,

Bhattacharyya

et al. 2023

WIREs Energy & Environment

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The twenty‐first century is confronted with the consequences of enormous amounts of global emerging plastic waste resulting from an excessive use of plastic, which has been imparting several negative impacts on the environment and human health. Moreover, some novel variants have also been reported in some coastal environments, so far, as a result of mixing of plastic waste with various other matrices. As a result, the problem of various forms of plastic waste within the marine ecosystem has emerged as a major concern in recent years. The current review is focused on the detrimental implications of various emerging and novel plastic variants, with an emphasis on coastal and marine environments. This review highlights the fate and transportation patterns of plastic waste, along with the contemporary examples of its implications on marine biota. Additionally, this work also examines the impacts of marine plastic waste on the environment. The review further highlights the importance of circular economy of plastic waste for sustainability. Then in the end, the growing anxieties about the impacts of plastic waste on coastal as well as marine environment, along with the strategies for reducing its impacts on ecological sustainability are discussed.This article is categorized under: Climate and Environment > Circular Economy

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“…These instances exemplify the impact of the anthroposphere on www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/jrph the biosphere, yet now, plastic overflow is beginning to merge with rocks and give rise to new stones (Hä llgren, 2019) in accordance with natural laws. These new stones, also called novel plastic forms (new plastic forms, Furukuma et al, 2022;De-la-Torre et al, 2021), are the result of humankind's activities, and include plastiglomerate, pyroplastic, plasticrust, anthropoquina, and plastitar (Corcoran et al, 2014;Turner et al, 2019;Gestoso et al, 2019;Fernandino et al, 2020;Domí nguez-Herná ndez et al, 2022). The Plasticene (Stager, 2011;Corcoran et al, 2014;Rangel-Buitrago et al, 2022), a substage of the Anthropocene Epoch, is occurring during the Great Acceleration (Steffen et al, 2015), and the anthroposphere, which generates vast quantities of plastics, is giving rise to the plastic ecology (Schaag, 2020) that is intermingled with the biosphere and lithosphere.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Philosophical Questions Concerning the Anthropocene and the Plasticene to ChatGPT and the Moderate Perspectives Derived from Their Responses

Furukuma¹

2023

JRPH

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ChatGPT, an AI (artificial intelligence) model developed by OpenAI was posed various philosophical questions about the Anthropocene and the Plasticene. The model opined that the naming of the Anthropocene holds significance, that the term Plasticene accurately encapsulates contemporary realities, that the expansion of the concept, such as through the lens of plastic ecology, will foster further study, that plastic rocks are important from the perspective of the Earth’s environment, and that although no one sees the Anthropocene in the traditional sense, future scientists may glean insights into the impacts of humankind’s activities from geological samples. From these moderate responses, we may have the utility to modify our opinions and create opportunities for novel anthropological questions.

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Plastitar: A new threat for coastal environments

Cited by 23 publications

References 27 publications

Fire and Oil Led to Complex Mixtures of PAHs on Burnt and Unburnt Plastic during the M/V X-Press Pearl Disaster

Fire and Oil Led to Complex Mixtures of PAHs on Burnt and Unburnt Plastic during the M/V X-Press Pearl Disaster

Impacts of emerging and novel plastic waste variants on marine and coastal ecosystems: Challenges and implications on the circular economy

Philosophical Questions Concerning the Anthropocene and the Plasticene to ChatGPT and the Moderate Perspectives Derived from Their Responses

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