Abstract
Considering that electronic wastes (e-wastes) have been recently recognized as a potent environmental and human threat, the present study aimed to assess the potential risk of personal computer motherboards (PCMBs) leaching into aquatic media, following a real-life scenario. Specifically, PCMBs were submerged for 30 days in both distilled water (DW) and artificial seawater (ASW). Afterwards, PCMBs leachates were chemically characterized (i.e., total organic carbon, ions, and trace elements) and finally used (a) for culturing freshwater (Chlorococcum sp. and Scenedesmus rubescens) and saltwater (Dunaliella tertiolecta and Tisochrysis lutea) microalgae for 10 days (240 h), (b) as the exposure medium for mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis (96 h exposure), and (c) for performing the Cytokinesis Block Micronucleus (CBMN) assay in human lymphocytes cultures. According to the results, PCMBs could mediate both fresh- and marine algae growth rates over time, thus enhancing the cytotoxic, oxidative, and genotoxic effects in the hemocytes of mussels (in terms of lysosomal membrane impairment, lipid peroxidation, and NO content and micronuclei formation, respectively), as well as human lymphocytes (in terms of MN formation and CBPI values, respectively). The current findings clearly revealed that PCMBs leaching into the aquatic media could pose detrimental effects on both aquatic organisms and human cells.
Highlights
It is well known that human-derived pollutants can threaten environmental and human health, undermining the social-economic sustainability and prosperity [1,2]
Different e-waste leaching methods like the total threshold limit concentration (TTLC) test, the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), as well as the synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP), have been performed so far, based on different acid and/or low-pH conditions, e-waste crushing, agitation/extraction processes, and time intervals [25,26,27,28,29]. These methods are considered quite efficient to assess the leachability of toxic substances, like metal ions, more realistic and environmentally relevant testing methods, including both chemical and biological approaches, are highly recommended for assessing the real environmental and human impact of e-waste leaching components, following their direct disposal into water bodies [30]. Considering the latter and in accordance with the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, which pointed out e-waste potent threat to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs), like the assurance of (a) the good health and well-being, through the reduction of chemicals in water (Goal 3), (b) aquatic ecosystems protection (Goal 14), and (c) the access to clean water (Goal 6) [4], the main goal of the present study was to assess the biological effects of personal computer motherboards (PCMBs) leachates on fresh- and marine species, as well as on human lymphocytes, following a more realistic scenario
The present study firstly revealed that PCMBs direct disposal into fresh- and saltwater bodies could be detrimental for aquatic biota and for human health, via the leaching of both inorganic and organic chemical substances, as well as trace elements of environmental concern
Summary
It is well known that human-derived pollutants can threaten environmental and human health, undermining the social-economic sustainability and prosperity [1,2]. Electronic wastes (e-wastes), which have become one of the largest and ever-increasing waste streams worldwide [3], are of great concern since their rational and environmentally sound management (i.e., recycle, reuse, and appropriate transport) is quite complex and remains problematic [4] The latter is more evident in some developing countries (mainly in Africa and Asia), where legal loopholes and ineffective environmental policies still exist, and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal in third countries (i.e., South Africa and Asia) is violated [4,5]. Several monitoring studies performed near e-waste treatment and workshop sites in developing countries revealed air, soil, and surface waters contamination with e-waste leaching components, mainly heavy metals ([12,13,14,15,16,17], as well as other toxic substances such as dioxins, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), brominated flame retardants (BFRs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin furans (PCDD/Fs) [18]
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