Pubblicazione scientifica

Field and mesocosm methods to test biodegradable plastic film under marine conditions

FILONE TECNOLOGICO	TEMA
economia circolare e sostenibilità

RIASSUNTO

The pollution of the natural environment, especially the world’s oceans, with conventional plastic is of major concern. Biodegradable plastics are an emerging market bringing along potential chances and risks. The fate of these materials in the environment and their possible effects on organisms and ecosystems has rarely been studied systematically and is not well understood. For the marine environment, reliable field test methods and standards for assessing and certifying biodegradation to bridge laboratory respirometric data are lacking. In this work we present newly developed field tests to assess the performance of (biodegradable) plastics under natural marine conditions. These methods were successfully applied and validated in three coastal habitats (eulittoral, benthic and pelagic) and two climate zones (Mediterranean Sea and tropical Southeast Asia). Additionally, a stand-alone mesocosm test system which integrated all three habitats in one technical system at 400-L scale independent from running seawater is presented as a methodological bridge. Films of polyhydroxyalkanoate copolymer (PHA) and low density polyethylene (LD-PE) were used to validate the tests. While LD-PE remained intact, PHA disintegrated to a varying degree depending on the habitat and the climate zone. Together with the existing laboratory standard test methods, the field and mesocosm test systems presented in this work provide a 3-tier testing scheme for the reliable assessment of the biodegradation of (biodegradable) plastic in the marine environment. This toolset of tests can be adapted to other aquatic ecosystems.

DATA

Data di pubblicazione: 31/07/2020

AUTORI

LOTT CHRISTIAN
EICH ANDREAS
UNGER BORIS
MAKAROW DOROTHEE
BATTAGLIARIN GLAUCO
SCHLEGEL KATHARINA
LASUT MARKUS T
WEBER MIRIAM

ENTE DI AFFERENZA

HYDRA MARINE SCIENCES GMBH
HYDRA FIELDWORK SULZBURG GERMANY
BASF SE LUDWIGSHAFEN GERMANY
UNSRAT MANADO SULAWESI UTARA INDONESIA
HAWAII PACIFIC UNIV US

RIVISTA

PLoS ONE, 15(7), e0236579

IMPACT FACTOR

2,870

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