PMID- 37553052
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
LR  - 20231020
IS  - 1879-1026 (Electronic)
IS  - 0048-9697 (Linking)
VI  - 902
DP  - 2023 Dec 1
TI  - Evaluating the generation of microplastics from an unlikely source: The 
      unintentional consequence of the current plastic recycling process.
PG  - 166090
LID - S0048-9697(23)04715-0 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166090 [doi]
AB  - This study casts light on the potential of microplastic generation during plastic 
      recycling - an unintended consequence of the process. To date, microplastics have 
      been detected in the wastewater and sludge from plastic recycling facilities; 
      however, generation pathways, factors and minimisation strategies are 
      understudied. The purpose of this study is to identify the factors affecting 
      microplastic generation, namely, plastic type and weathering conditions. The size 
      reduction phase, which involved the mechanical shredding of the plastic waste 
      material, was identified to be the predominate source of microplastic generation. 
      Material type was found to significantly affect microplastic generation rates. 
      Focussing on the microplastic particles in the size range of 0.212-1.18 mm, 
      polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), and 
      high-density polyethylene (HDPE) generated 28,600 +/- 3961, 21,093 +/- 2211, 
      18,987 +/- 752 and 6807 +/- 393 particles/kg of plastic material shredded, 
      respectively. The significant variations between different plastic types were 
      correlated (R(2) = 0.88) to the hardness of the plastic. Environmental weathering 
      was observed to significantly affect microplastic generation rates. Generation 
      rates increased for PC, PET, PP, and HDPE by 185.05 %, 159.80 %, 123.70 % and 
      121.74 %, respectively, over a six-month environmental exposure period. The 
      results in this study confirm production of large amounts of microplastics from 
      the plastic recycling industry through its operational processes, which may be a 
      significant source for microplastic pollution if measures to reduce their 
      production and removal from wastewater and sludge are not considered.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
FAU - Stapleton, Michael J
AU  - Stapleton MJ
AD  - Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining, Environmental 
      and Architectural Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, 
      Australia.
FAU - Ansari, Ashley J
AU  - Ansari AJ
AD  - Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining, Environmental 
      and Architectural Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, 
      Australia.
FAU - Ahmed, Aziz
AU  - Ahmed A
AD  - School of Civil, Mining, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University 
      of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia.
FAU - Hai, Faisal I
AU  - Hai FI
AD  - Strategic Water Infrastructure Laboratory, School of Civil, Mining, Environmental 
      and Architectural Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2522, 
      Australia. Electronic address: faisal@uow.edu.au.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20230806
PL  - Netherlands
TA  - Sci Total Environ
JT  - The Science of the total environment
JID - 0330500
SB  - IM
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Contamination
OT  - Mechanical shredding
OT  - Microplastic pollution
OT  - Plastic waste
OT  - Recycling
COIS- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known 
      competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared 
      to influence the work reported in this paper.
EDAT- 2023/08/09 01:05
MHDA- 2023/08/09 01:06
CRDT- 2023/08/08 19:11
PHST- 2023/07/06 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/08/03 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/08/04 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2023/08/09 01:06 [medline]
PHST- 2023/08/09 01:05 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/08/08 19:11 [entrez]
AID - S0048-9697(23)04715-0 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166090 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 1;902:166090. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166090. 
      Epub 2023 Aug 6.