Chapter 9 - Organic additives in marine plastics: occurrence, leaching, impacts, and regulatory aspects

Abstract

Chemical additives in plastics represent an emerging global pollution threat, exhibiting multiple and concurrent sources in the marine environment. This chapter focuses on organic additives, providing an up-to-date overview of their presence in marine plastic fragments from field studies and discussing the role of leaching as additive source, the exposure, accumulation, and potential effects on marine organisms. Leaching of additives from most abundant plastic polymers in the sea has been widely documented, but important gaps remain regarding the global stock of leached additives and their potential transfer to marine biota. Despite the increasing efforts to characterize plastic leachates, mostly by state-of-the-art techniques such as nontarget screening, there is no consensus as to whether additives leached from plastic debris at seas and oceans may significantly affect marine organisms and human health. A limited number of plastic additives are regulated at present. The Marine Strategy Framework Directive can be a key driver to identify and implement actions that support a holistic approach to assessing risks associated with plastic chemicals in the marine environment.