Nanoplastic

Plastic nanoparticles raise concern because of their potential impact on the environment. However, many questions need to be answered to establish how dangerous they really are.

Fragments of plastic smaller than 1 μm have raised concerns about the potential risks they pose to the environment. Research will have to answer a number of questions to establish what the realistic risks are.

To assess potential risks posed by plastic nanoparticles, we must study the way in which they transfer and transform in the environment. Using ¹³C-labelled nanoplastics could provide a safe and effective way to establish whether the plastic is mineralized or whether it persists in the environment.

The ability to synthesize metal-doped nanoplastic opens windows to accurately assess the potential environmental hazards that nanoplastic poses.

Analytical challenges in detecting nanoplastics have hindered the understanding of their behaviour in environmental systems, but these difficulties can be circumvented by synthesizing metal-doped nanoplastics (where the metal can be measured as a proxy for the plastic) to undertake mechanistic investigations of particle fate, transport and biological interactions in lab and pilot-scale studies.