Von der unsichtbaren zur durchschaubaren Verpackung

Sattlegger, Lukas; Zimmermann, Lisa; Birnbach, Maik

doi:10.14512/oew350138

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(8 reference statements)

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“…Currently, the alternative to producing energy from plastic materials ("energy recovery", incineration) is to create products of lower quality ("down-cycling"), which is not a sustainable solution since new feedstock needs to be added and resources are irreversibly lost (McDonough and Braungart 2009). This is, to a certain degree, owed to the heterogeneity of plastic products and use cases on the market as well as the lack of transparency throughout the production process regarding feedstock material, and additive composition (Sattlegger et al 2020). Downstream of plastic use functioning and efficient recycling systems on a global scale are the exception rather than the norm (Jambeck et al 2015).…”

Section: üBergeordnet Wurden Dabei Fünf Ziele Verfolgt Die Teils üBergreifend In Mehrerenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tissue translocation, multigenerational and population effects of microplastics in Daphnia magna

Schür¹

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The last century saw the widespread adoption of plastic materials throughout nearly every aspect of our lives. Plastics are synthetic polymers that are made up of monomer chains. The properties of the monomer in conjunction with chemical additives allow plastics to have a sheer endless variety of features and use cases. They are cheap, lightweight, and extremely durable. Plastic materials are often engineered for single-use and in conjunction with high production volumes and insufficient waste management and recycling across the globe, this leads to a large number of plastics entering the environment. Marine ecosystems are considered sinks. However, freshwater ecosystems as entry pathways are highly affected by plastic waste as well. Throughout the past decade, the impact of plastic waste on human and environmental health has received a lot of attention from the ecotoxicological community as well as the public. Small plastic fragments (< 1 mm called microplastics) are a large part of this emerging field of research. Within this, the water flea Daphnia magna is probably the most common organism that is used to assess microplastics toxicity. As a filter-feeding organism, it indiscriminately ingests particles from the water column and is thus highly susceptible to microplastics. For this thesis, we identified some gaps in the available data on the ecotoxicity of microplastics to daphnids. To illuminate some of those gaps the present thesis was aimed at five main aspects: (1) Tissue translocation of spherical microplastics in Daphnia magna (2) Investigation of the toxicity of irregularly shaped microplastics (3) Multigenerational and population effects of microplastics (4) Comparison of the toxicity of microplastics and natural particles (5) Effects of particle-aging on microplastics toxicity The thesis is comprised of three peer-reviewed articles and one so-far unpublished study as “additional results”. The first study was aimed at understanding tissue translocation of spherical microplastics to lipid storage droplets of daphnids. The crossing of biological membranes is discussed as a prerequisite to eliciting tissue damage and an inflammatory response. Previously, researchers reported the translocation of fluorescently labeled spherical microplastics to lipid storage droplets of daphnids, even though no plausible biological mechanism to explain this occurrence. Therefore, in order to learn more about this process and potentially illuminate the mechanism we replicated the study. We were able to observe a fluorescence signal inside the lipid droplets only after increasing the exposure concentrations. Nonetheless, it appeared to be independent of particles. This led to the hypothesis, that the lipophilic fluorescent dye uncoupled from the particles and subsequently accumulated in lipid storage droplets. The hypothesis was further confirmed through an additional experiment with a silicone-based passive sampling device showing that the fluorescence occurred both independent of particles and digestive processes. Accordingly, we concluded that the reported findings were a microscopic artifact caused by the uncoupling of the dye from the particles. Therefore, a fluorescence signal alone is not a sufficient proxy to assume that particles have translocated. It needs to be coupled with additional methods to ensure that the observation is indeed caused by the translocation of particles. It is still unclear whether the toxicity profile of microplastics is different from that of naturally occurring particles or if they are “just another particle”, as there are innumerable amounts in the natural environment surrounding an organism. The goal of the second study was to compare the toxicity of irregularly shaped polystyrene microplastics to that of the natural particle kaolin. The environment is full of natural non-food particles that daphnids ingest more or less indiscriminately and therefore are well adapted to deal with. Daphnids have a short generation time and usually experience food limitation in nature. Therefore, short-term studies only looking at acute toxicity with ad libitum food availability are not representative of the exposure scenario in nature. For a more realistic scenario, we, therefore, used a four-generation multigenerational design under food limitation to investigate how effects translate from one generation to the next. We observed concentration-dependent effects of microplastics but not of natural particles on mortality, reproduction, and growth. Some of the effects increased from generation to generation, leading to the extinction of two treatment groups. Here, microplastics were more toxic than natural particles. At least part of this difference can be explained by physical properties leading to the quick sedimentation of the kaolin, while microplastics remained in the water column. Nonetheless, buoyancy and sedimentation would also affect exposure in the environment and are likely different for most microplastics than for most naturally occurring particle types. ...

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Section: üBergeordnet Wurden Dabei Fünf Ziele Verfolgt Die Teils üBergreifend In Mehrerenmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tissue translocation, multigenerational and population effects of microplastics in Daphnia magna

Schür¹

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“…Also, white and black lists with toxicologically (un)acceptable chemicals could be beneficial to facilitate the shift towards the development of safer plastics. To achieve this, the transfer of knowledge along the entire production chain needs improvement (Sattlegger et al, 2020).…”

Section: Chemically Complex Formulationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After all, they should ensure that the plastic products they place on the market are safe during and after use. This should be tested by independent laboratories (Sattlegger et al, 2020). Finally, life-cycle assessments (LCAs) could be applied, too.…”

Section: A Set Of Different Measures For a Systemic Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecotoxicological assessment of microplastics in limnic systems with emphasis on chemicals released by weathering

Klein¹

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Plastic pollution is a pervasive problem. In the environment, both the physical and chemical aspects of the material contribute to pollution. For instance, discarded plastic is useless waste that is fragmented upon degradation and so-called microplastics <5 mm are formed. Besides, the chemicals added into plastics are usually customized for specific functions, but these can easily transfer from the polymer into an ambient medium. This work examined both of these aspects. Moreover, the question of whether ecotoxicological effects are more likely to appear because of the microparticle properties or the chemicals transferring from the microplastics was addressed. A special focus was laid on the UV-weathering-induced chemical release. First, conventional and biodegradable plastics made from fossil and bio-based resources were chosen. The different materials (pre-production and recycled pellets as well as final products)were weathered and their leachates evaluated in vitro. The leachates were analyzed with nontarget screening in order to measure the number of transferred chemicals. Plastics identified as toxic were subjected to further investigations in vivo. A biodegradable shampoo bottle was processed to microplastics and the particles’ physical and chemical properties were assessed with the freshwater worm Lumbriculus variegatus. Here, commonly used endpoints such as mortality, reproduction and weight were tested via different exposure routes. Moreover, the freshwater shrimp Neocaridina palmata was exposed to microplastic beads and fragments to clarify if the shape of the particles affects the ingestion and egestion, respectively. Thereafter, two materials that displayed the strongest toxic responses in vitro within the first study were weathered and leached. Finally, the shrimps were exposed to the leachates and the locomotor behavior was used as an ecologically relevant but less frequently studied endpoint. The results of the studies highlight that plastics are chemically complex mixtures, containing a wide range of chemicals in terms of the number and functionality. These chemicals induced oxidative stress, baseline toxicity and endocrine activities. This shows that pellets represent a processing state that comprises chemically heterogenous materials. Moreover, it was shown that a degradation initiator is not necessarily relevant to trigger inherent substances to leach out from plastics. Despite this, the UV-weathering resulted in increasingly released chemicals and exacerbated the in vitro toxicities. Even plastics assessed as toxicologically harmless prior to weathering released toxic chemical mixtures once they were weathered. One recycled and all of the biodegradable plastics were toxicologically most concerning. This means that such materials are currently not better than conventional, virgin plastics in terms of their toxicity. To clarify the source of the microplastic toxicity, L. variegatus was exposed to biodegradable microplastics. The particles were ingested by the worms and adversely affected the examined endpoints. In comparison, microplastics that were depleted from their chemicals via a solvent treatment were less toxic. Kaolin as a natural particle control was evaluated alongside and positively affected the weight of the worms. This emphasizes the ecological relevance of fine-sized matter for the test species. The chemicals extracted from the microplastics induced a 100% mortality. A chemical analysis of the material revealed two ecotoxicologically relevant biocides. The physically-mediated effects of the microplastics seemed to be less of a concern for the worms, which is probably linked to their adaptation to high concentrations of naturally occurring particles in the environment. However, the effects related to the chemicals of plastic cannot be ignored, especially for materials that are claimed to be environmentally friendly. In the third study, the role of the particle shape in the gut passaging of N. palmata was studied. While the particle size was a determinant factor for the ingestion, the ingestion and egestion of the beads and fragments did not differ, respectively. The shrimps ingested less fragments when food was provided than in the absence of food. As for the worms, the shrimps are known to ingest many naturally occurring particles. Their unselective feeding behavior towards the particle shape could indicate that microplastics as a physical pollutant are negligible for the shrimps. That is why the chemicals of the two most toxic in vitro materials were tested with N. palmata. However, no trend towards elevated or reduced movements of the shrimps was observed, even though the leachates contained baseline toxicants. This shows that the in vitro toxicities of plastics are not necessarily indicative for effects to occur at the in vivo level...

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Wie ist ein nachhaltiger Umgang mit Plastik möglich?

Kramm

Völker

2021

Nachhaltige Entwicklung in Einer Gesellschaft Des Umbruchs

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ZusammenfassungStellt Plastik ein Risiko für unsere Umwelt dar? Wie finden wir einen besseren Umgang mit einem Material, das so viele Bereiche unseres Alltags durchdrungen hat? Mit diesen und weiteren Fragen beschäftigt sich die inter- und transdisziplinär arbeitenden Nachwuchsgruppe „PlastX – Plastik in der Umwelt als systemisches Risiko“. Der Beitrag stellt die unterschiedlichen Forschungsfelder (Mikroplastik, Meeresmüll, Verpackungen und Bioplastik) vor. Der Ansatz der systemischen Risiken wird als integrative Perspektive diskutiert.

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Von der unsichtbaren zur durchschaubaren Verpackung

Cited by 3 publications

References 5 publications

Tissue translocation, multigenerational and population effects of microplastics in Daphnia magna

Tissue translocation, multigenerational and population effects of microplastics in Daphnia magna

Ecotoxicological assessment of microplastics in limnic systems with emphasis on chemicals released by weathering

Wie ist ein nachhaltiger Umgang mit Plastik möglich?

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