Abstract
Concern regarding the pollution of the marine environment with plastics has been rising in recent years. Plastic waste residing in and interacting with the environment fragments into secondary particles in the micro- and nanoscale, whose negative impacts on the environment are even greater than those of the parent items. In this work, secondary high density polyethylene (HDPE) and low density polyethylene (LDPE) microplastics were produced by irradiation of virgin films following mechanical fragmentation. The fragments with size ranging from 250 μm to 2 mm were selected for subsequent microcosm experiments. Incubation for 120 days in seawater inoculated with two marine communities, Agios, acclimatized to utilizing plastics as a carbon source, and Souda, as was collected at the Souda bay (Crete, Greece), resulted in biofilm formation by polyethylene (PE) degraders. Monthly FTIR (Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy) examination of the samples revealed changes in the chemical structure of the surface of the polymers. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) was employed and nano- and microparticles with sizes in the range between 56 nm and 4.5 μm were detected in the seawater of inoculated microcosms. It was thus demonstrated that weathered plastics particles can biodeteriorate and biofragment as a result of biofilm attachment, resulting in the production of nanoplastics due to microbial activity.
Highlights
Plastics are high molecular weight polymers with excellent chemical and physical properties
The growth observed after 30 days of incubation was statistically significant; the Agios community achieved an average of 1.44 logCFU mL−1 increase (Figure 2B) when utilizing high density polyethylene (HDPE) microplastics as sole carbon source
The presence of plastics of all scales in the environment has been linked to a number of processes and interactions, which have not been fully studied despite the ever-increasing volume of relevant publications
Summary
Plastics are high molecular weight polymers with excellent chemical and physical properties. Due to improper waste management schemes, accumulation of plastics in marine, freshwater, and terrestrial environments keeps on increasing [1]. A large quantity of plastic particles ends up in the marine environment; 270,000 t of plastics have been estimated to float in the world’s oceans, with current convergence areas being most heavily affected such as the ocean gyres, and enclosed water bodies, like the Mediterranean Sea [2,3]. Plastics contribute to about 80 to 85% of marine litter [4] while fragments constitute the majority of marine plastic litter in terms of abundance in the ocean [5]. Particle size distributions follow a power law for fragments while the maximum is frequently observed at ~1 mm [6]. Based on the production process, microplastics (MPs) can be divided into primary when they are fabricated as such and secondary MPs as a result of fragmentation [7]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
