Scientists have developed a method for estimating the age of microplastics caught from the ocean. Reported by Kyushu University.
Plastic pollution is considered one of the most serious environmental problems in the modern world. A significant portion of plastic debris ends up in the ocean, where many pieces break down into smaller fragments and form microplastics, which are particles less than 5mm in length. It is extremely difficult to clean the water from it, and many sea creatures eat it, which harms them.
Rie Okubo and colleagues developed a method for dating the time of manufacture of this type of plastic. “The most common plastic material is polyethylene. We know that polyethylene oxidizes and decomposes when it interacts with the environment. The level of degradation can be assessed by measuring the material’s molecular weight and carbonyl index. As polyethylene decomposes, the carbonyl index increases and its molecular weight decreases, the scientist said.
For this method to be accurate, it was necessary to create a scale that evaluated the effect of a combination of different factors on plastic. In this context, the authors conducted a series of experiments to find out how polyethylene is affected by various combinations of ultraviolet radiation and temperature, and how this changes its molecular weight and carbonyl index.
The authors were able to estimate the age of each sample by analyzing the microplastics collected during testing of the method. They found that the age of microplastics in coastal waters ranged from 0 to 5 years, while the age of samples in open waters ranged from 1 to 3 years. The researchers hope the new method will help them better understand how microplastics spread in the environment. The data will also help develop more accurate models for monitoring microplastics in the ocean.
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