Plastic resin pellets

Mata, Y., Isobe, T Takada, H., Kanehiro, H., Ohtake, C and Kaminuma, T. (2001) Plastic resin pellets as a transport medium of for toxic chemicals in the marine environment. Environmental Science and Technology, 35 ... 

One of the main concerns with plastic resin pellets is that they carry persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are human-made chemicals used in a variety of anthropogenic activities, including industry, agriculture and daily life. POPs include polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), different sorts of organochloiine pesticides (e.g. DDTs and HCHs) and brominated flame retardants (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or PBDEs). Because of their very slow rate of degradation, POPs are persistent in the environment. POPs are... 

As part of the establishment of the International Pellet Watch project, we asked citizens across the globe to collect plastic resin pellets from nearby beaches and send them to our laboratory via air mail (see Figure 11.2). No cooling or freezing is necessary - people just have to put the pellets into an... 

Figure 11.3 Concentration of PCBs in beached plastic resin pellet (ng/g-pellet)...

International Pellet Watch tells us not only about the pollution status of various POPs and their global distribution, but also about risks associated with chemicals in marine plastics. Because pellets contain POPs, they act as carriers to various species of seabirds, which mistake them for food. However, plastic resin pellets are a minor component of marine plastics debris. The majority of plastics in beach debris are fragments of user plastics, as shown in Figure 11.4 and discussed elsewhere in this book. This plastic debris is also observed floating on the sea surface (Law et al. 2010), and can be ingested by seabirds (Yamashita et al. 2011). These plastic fragments also contain POPs. 

Heskett, M., Takada, H., Yamashita, R., Yuyama, M., Ito, M., et oL (2012) Measiue-ment of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Plastic Resin Pellets from Remote Islands Toward Establishment of Backgroimd Concentrations for International Pellet Watch , Marine Pollution Bulletin 64 445-48. 

Takada, H. (2006) Call for Pellets International Pellet Watch Global Monitoring of POPs Using Beached Plastic Resin Pellets , Marine Pollution Bulletin 52 1547-48. 

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