Where does the carbon go? A new carbon balance method to assess what happens to plastics under solar exposure.

ABSTRACT: Plastic pollution is a major and global threat to ecosystems and human health, resulting from the spreading and breakdown of plastic litter in the environment. In an aquatic environment, the first causes of this degradation are exposure to natural ultraviolet light and abrasion or collisions in the water. The extent of such degradation on a plastic object after a given time remains very difficult to quantify, especially regarding the relative production of microplastics, nanoplastics and soluble species along with volatile compounds. All of these degradation products may contribute differently to environmental pollution. Therefore, when evaluating the pollution caused by plastic objects, we should consider how much of each byproduct is generated. We propose a novel method based on conserva

SUBMITTER: Bertier G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12478910 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature