Hazardous Chemicals in Plastics in Marine Environments : International Pellet Watch
- Yamashita, Rei
- Tanaka, Kosuke
- Yeo, Bee Geok
- Takada, Hideshige
- van Franeker, Jan A.
- Dalton, Megan
- Dale, Eric
DOIAbstract
Marine plastic debris, including microplastics <5Â mm, contain additives as well as hydrophobic chemicals sorbed from surrounding seawater. A volunteer-based global monitoring programme entitled International Pellet Watch (IPW) is utilizing the sorptive nature of plastics, more specifically of beached polyethylene (PE) pellets, in order to measure persistent organic pollutants (POPs) throughout the world. Spatial patterns of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides have been revealed. Original data of IPW show large piece-to-piece variability in PCB concentrations in pellets collected at each location. This is explained by the combination of slow sorption/desorption and large variabilities of speed and route of floatin...
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