Micro(nano)plastics: An un-ignorable carbon source?

Duofei Hu; Maocai Shen; Yaxin Zhang; Guangming Zeng

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.046

Micro(nano)plastics: An un-ignorable carbon source?

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Mar 20:657:108-110. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.046. Epub 2018 Dec 5.

Authors

Duofei Hu¹, Maocai Shen¹, Yaxin Zhang², Guangming Zeng¹

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China; Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China. Electronic address: zhang_yx@hnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 30537573
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.046

Abstract

Micro(nano)plastics, new emerging contaminants, are widely found in the environment due to continuous release. Massive and widespread presence of micro(nano)plastics may have a significant impact on the calculation of total organic carbon, and potentially result in misunderstanding of the overall environmental pollution level. Previous studies typically paid attention to the environmental distribution, source, analysis methods and technologies, as well as the environmental and ecological effects of micro(nano)plastics. However, little was aware of the total organic carbon consequences. There are few evidences for the contribution of micro(nano)plastics to total organic carbon. Accordingly, more efforts need to be taken to explore the contribution of micro(nano)plastics to total organic carbon.

Keywords: Carbon contribution; Carbon source; Global carbon cycle; Micro(nano)plastics; Total organic carbon.