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Replicating real-world microplastics with accelerated physicochemical ageing

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2024)Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 12 April 2024

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Microplastics are formed by the degradation of plastic in the environment. Depending on the geographical location and weather conditions, these microplastics can undergo photodegradation, physical degradation, and biological degradation. Additionally, microplastics can vary in size, shape, and polymer composition owing to their diverse sources. The ubiquity of microplastics has led to the expansion of research exploring the threat to human and animal health upon ingestion or inhalation. However, the findings from many experiments do not translate to real-world environments, because they use virgin microplastics, particularly microbeads (≤5 mm spherical plastics), which can have different impacts to microplastics found in the environment. For example, biofilms formed on aged microbeads release biological cues, making them more likely to be ingested by moon jellyfish than virgin microbeads. Therefore, experiments using aged microplastics are needed to avoid underestimating the environmental threat of microplastics.

Aged microplastics can be used to explore the mechanisms by which microplastics in the environment adsorb and desorb chemicals and heavy metals and how these processes influence microplastic toxicity. Additionally, the results from experiments using aged microplastics can be reliably extrapolated to microplastics in field conditions to improve understanding of the potential impacts of microplastics on the environment, organisms, and ecosystems. For example, experiments using aged PET microfibres or polyethylene microbeads produced by the machine could be used to further explore the effect of microplastics on insects such as the house cricket Gryllodes sigillatus, after experiments with virgin microfibres and microbeads found that there was no impact. Clarifying the impacts of microplastics through such experiments could facilitate the development of targeted strategies for mitigating the adverse effects of microplastics; for example, reducing the use of synthetic fibres or capturing microfibres and other microplastics in waste water.

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2020YFC1808000). The author expresses gratitude to D. Hou for his support and providing access to the machine. Thanks are extended to J. Gao for her guidance in operating the machine. The author acknowledges financial support from the Tsinghua Shuimu Scholar Program.

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  1. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Phuping Sucharitakul

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  1. Phuping Sucharitakul
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Correspondence to Phuping Sucharitakul.

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Sucharitakul, P. Replicating real-world microplastics with accelerated physicochemical ageing. Nat Rev Earth Environ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00550-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00550-0

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