Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS), The University of Queensland, 20 Cornwall Street, Woolloongabba, QLD, 4102, Australia.
Future Industries Institute (FII), University of South Australia, University Boulevard, Mawson Lakes, SA 5095, Australia.
Water Res. 2021 Aug 1;201:117367. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117367. Epub 2021 Jun 16.
Plastics are ubiquitous contaminants that leak into the environment from multiple pathways including the use of treated sewage sludge (biosolids). Seven common plastics (polymers) were quantified in the solid fraction of archived biosolids samples from Australia and the United Kingdom from between 1950 and 2016. Six plastics were detected, with increasing concentrations observed over time for each plastic. Biosolids plastic concentrations correlated with plastic production estimates, implying a potential link between plastics production, consumption and leakage into the environment. Prior to the 1990s, the leakage of plastics into biosolids was limited except for polystyrene. Increased leakage was observed from the 1990s onwards; potentially driven by increased consumption of polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate and polyvinyl chloride. We show that looking back in time along specific plastic pollution pathways may help unravel the potential sources of plastics leakage into the environment and provide quantitative evidence to support the development of source control interventions or regulations.
塑料是无处不在的污染物，通过多种途径泄漏到环境中，包括使用经过处理的污水污泥（生物固体）。从 1950 年至 2016 年，在澳大利亚和英国的生物固体存档样本的固体部分中定量了七种常见的塑料（聚合物）。检测到六种塑料，每种塑料的浓度随时间推移而增加。生物固体中的塑料浓度与塑料产量估算相关，这表明塑料生产、消费和泄漏到环境之间存在潜在联系。在 20 世纪 90 年代之前，除了聚苯乙烯之外，塑料泄漏到生物固体中的情况有限。从 20 世纪 90 年代开始，观察到泄漏量增加；这可能是由于聚乙烯、聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯和聚氯乙烯的消费增加所致。我们表明，沿着特定的塑料污染途径回溯过去，可能有助于揭示塑料泄漏到环境中的潜在来源，并提供定量证据，以支持制定源头控制干预措施或法规。
