The non-negligible environmental risk of recycling halogenated flame retardants associated with plastic regeneration in China

Zhiguo Cao; Qiaoying Chen; Xiaoxiao Li; Yacai Zhang; Meihui Ren; Lifang Sun; Mengmeng Wang; Xiaotu Liu; Gang Yu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.373

The non-negligible environmental risk of recycling halogenated flame retardants associated with plastic regeneration in China

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Jan 1:646:1090-1096. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.373. Epub 2018 Jul 29.

Authors

Zhiguo Cao¹, Qiaoying Chen², Xiaoxiao Li², Yacai Zhang², Meihui Ren², Lifang Sun², Mengmeng Wang², Xiaotu Liu³, Gang Yu⁴

Affiliations

¹ Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan 453007, China; Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (SKLESPC), School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: wq11ab@163.com.
² Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Yellow River and Huai River Water Environment and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang, Henan 453007, China.
³ Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (SKLESPC), School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; School of Environment, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510632, China. Electronic address: liu.xiaotu@163.com.
⁴ Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (SKLESPC), School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China. Electronic address: yg-den@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.

PMID: 30235595
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.07.373

Abstract

To investigate halogenated flame retardant (HFR) contents in recycled plastic materials, 23 recycled plastic samples manufactured in five Chinese provinces were randomly purchased online, and the ∑12HFR concentrations of these samples (including 8 polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs, BDE 28, 47, 99, 100, 154, 153, 183 and 209), decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE), 1,2-bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)ethane (BTBPE), and 2 dechlorane plus isomers (DP, syn-DP and anti-DP)) varied from ND to 169,000 ng g^-1 (mean ± SD, 46,900 ± 44,700 ng g^-1). BDE 209 and DBDPE were the dominant components and their concentration ranges were from ND to 106,000 ng g^-1 and ND to 81,900 ng g^-1, respectively. Generally, the HFR content and plastic variety closely correlate, and the ∑HFR concentrations in the polyvinyl chloride (PVC, N = 5), polypropylene (PP, N = 9), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS, N = 5), polystyrene (PS, N = 1) and polyethylene (PE, N = 3) samples were 65,300 ± 42,400, 36,700 ± 56,000, 30,000 ± 25,200, 24,300 and 4330 ± 7500 ng g^-1, respectively. The HFR abundance in plastic from Guangdong (76,000 ± 56,400 ng g^-1, N = 7) and Hebei (37,500 ± 11,500 ng g^-1, N = 4) was much higher than that for other provinces/cities.

Keywords: Environmental risk; Halogenated flame retardants; Plastic; Recycling.