Sources and Fate of Microplastics in Urban Areas: A Focus on Paris Megacity

214

137

In recent years, interest in the environmental occurrence and effects of microplastics (MPs) has shifted towards our inland waters, and in this chapter we provide an overview of the issues that may be of concern for freshwater environments. The term 'contaminant of emerging concern' does not only apply to chemical pollutants but to MPs as well because it has been detected ubiquitously in freshwater systems. The environmental release of MPs will occur from a wide variety of sources, including emissions from wastewater treatment plants and from the degradation of larger plastic debris items. Due to the chemical makeup of plastic materials, receiving environments are potentially exposed to a mixture of microand nano-sized particles, leached additives, and subsequent degradation products, which will become bioavailable for a range of biota. The ingestion of MPs by aquatic organisms has been demonstrated, but the long-term effects of continuous exposures are less well understood. Technological developments and changes in demographics will influence the types of MPs and environmental concentrations in the future, and it will be important to develop approaches to mitigate the input of synthetic polymers to freshwater ecosystems.

Section: Sources Of Plastics and Microplastics Into The Freshwater Enmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Reddy et al [59]) and may exclude those in the submicron size ranges. The environmental occurrence and sources of MPs in freshwater matrices in an African, Asian, and European context are further discussed in Dris et al [51], Wu et al [60], Khan et al [61], respectively.…”

Section: Occurrence In Freshwater Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics Are Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Freshwater Environments: An Overview

Lambert

Wagner

2017

214

137

“…The first notion of seabirds ingesting plastic debris was published in the 1960s [12]. At this point, research into environmental contamination with plastic debris was a small field, and few papers were published through the 1960s and 1970s (see [13][14][15]). However, Carpenter and Smith [16] were the first to notice that plastic accumulated in specific oceanic zone, in their Science publication of plastic debris in the Sargasso Sea.…”

Section: Historical Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk Perception of Plastic Pollution: Importance of Stakeholder Involvement and Citizen Science

Syberg

Hansen

Christensen

et al. 2017

Risk perception has a significant impact on how society reacts to a given risk. There have been cases where a mismatch between the actual risk and the perception of it has led to poor decisions on societal initiatives, such as inappropriate regulatory measures. It is therefore important that the perception of risk is based on an informed foundation acknowledging the biases and drivers that inevitably go with risk perception. Plastic pollution differs in regard to other classical risks, such as those posed by chemicals or genetically modified organisms (GMOs), since the pollution is more visible and already has a significant magnitude. At the same time, everyone is familiar with using plastic, and our daily lives are highly dependent on the use of plastic. This offers some potential to strengthen the societal risk perception and subsequently implement effective measures to address the pollution.In this chapter, we define eight risk perception drivers (voluntariness, control, knowledge, timing, severity, benefit, novelty, and tangibility) and relate these drivers to plastic pollution. We discuss the process in which plastic pollution has been recognized as an important environmental problem by scientists, the public, and policy makers and elaborate on how the eight risk drivers have influenced this process. Plastic pollution has several of the characteristics that can enhance people's perception of the risk as being important and which has generated great awareness of the problem. The chapter finally discusses how risk perception can be improved by greater stakeholder involvement and utilization of citizen science and thereby improve the foundation for timely and efficient societal measures.

“…So far, only one study reports significant impacts of MP on fish larvae at concentrations found in coastal waters [51]. 4 Nevertheless, MPs occur in almost all types of freshwater environmentsranging from streams in densely populated areas to lakes in almost non-populated areas, e.g., in Mongolia ( [52][53][54][55], [19,56,57]; see [58,59] for further discussion). Additionally, MPs persist over centuries under common environmental conditions [60].…”

Section: Do We Need Regulation Of Microplastics At All?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Freshwater Microplastics: Challenges for Regulation and Management

Brennholt

Heß

Reifferscheid

2017

The accumulation of plastic debris in aquatic environments is one of the major but least studied human pressures on aquatic ecosystems. Besides the general waste burden in waterbodies, (micro)plastic debris gives rise to ecological and social problems. Related to marine ecosystems, these problems are already in the center of interest of science, policy, and public. The United Nations Environment Programme, for instance, drafted a joint report on "marine plastic debris and microplastics," and the European Community included the issue into the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive, descriptor 10 "marine litter."However, (micro)plastic litter in freshwater systems is not yet explicitly addressed in the respective regulations, although the issue is relevant for many international and national policy instruments and initiatives. Many conventions, agreements, regulations, strategies, action plans, programs, and guidelines refer to "all wastes" in general. This should also concern (micro)plastic waste.This chapter provides an overview of the regulatory instruments developed at different levels to address freshwater (micro)plastic litter. Beyond that, specific management options and measures that are either compulsory or voluntary are presented. Nevertheless, only few options have been realized so far. Reasons are numerous, first and foremost the lack of consensus on the definition of microplastics. The complexity of these particulate stressors with very heterogeneous physicochemical characteristics poses new challenges for regulation and management. We highlight the most important questions from the perspective of freshwater monitoring. Furthermore, we discuss a possible adaption of existing environmental policy instruments and potential management options for single categories of (micro)plastics.