Issue 5, 2019

Secondary nanoplastics released from a biodegradable microplastic severely impact freshwater environments

Abstract

Over the last five decades, plastics production has increased as a consequence of their use in strategic sectors causing damage on aquatic ecosystems. In this context, biodegradable plastics have emerged as an ecological alternative because they are easily degradable in the environment. Despite the recent advances in the field of plastic ecotoxicology, the ecological impact of secondary nanoplastics (nanoplastics resulting from natural degradation of micro and macro plastics) in the environment remains poorly understood. Here, we have investigated the effects of secondary nanoplastics of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable plastic, on three representative organisms of aquatic ecosystems. Secondary PHB-nanoplastics were produced from PHB-microplastics by abiotic degradation under environmentally representative conditions. Secondary PHB-nanoplastics induced a significant decrease in cellular growth and altered relevant physiological parameters in all organisms. We investigated whether the observed toxicity was exerted by PHB-nanoplastics themselves or by other abiotic degradation products released from PHB-microplastics. An experiment was run in which PHB-nanoplastics were removed by ultrafiltration; the resulting supernatant was not toxic to the organisms, ruling out the presence of toxic chemicals in the PHB-microplastics. In addition, we have performed a complete physicochemical characterization confirming the presence of secondary PHB-nanoplastics in the 75–200 nm range. All results put together indicated that secondary PHB-nanoplastics released as a consequence of abiotic degradation of PHB-microplastics were harmful for the tested organisms, suggesting that biodegradable plastic does not mean safe for the environment in the case of PHB.

Graphical abstract: Secondary nanoplastics released from a biodegradable microplastic severely impact freshwater environments

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
19 Des 2018
Accepted
04 Apr 2019
First published
04 Apr 2019

Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2019,6, 1382-1392

Secondary nanoplastics released from a biodegradable microplastic severely impact freshwater environments

M. González-Pleiter, M. Tamayo-Belda, G. Pulido-Reyes, G. Amariei, F. Leganés, R. Rosal and F. Fernández-Piñas, Environ. Sci.: Nano, 2019, 6, 1382 DOI: 10.1039/C8EN01427B

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements