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Microplastics are tiny particles measuring less than five millimeters, or smaller than a single human hair, and have become nearly ubiquitous. While much evidence has surfaced regarding the pervasiveness of microplastics in the environment, the research behind the toxicity and impact of these microplastics is less conclusive. A bipartisan coalition of U.S. lawmakers, scientists, and industry leaders said they are interested in collaborating to better understand the environmental and health consequences of the presence of microplastics in water.
The most important step toward advancing this understanding is the development and refinement of standardized analytical methods, said Brent Alspach, vice president and director of Applied Research at Arcadis, in his testimony to a U.S. Senate joint hearing of two Environment and Public Works (EPW) subcommittees dedicated to chemical safety, waste management, and environmental justice and fisheries, water, and wildlife.
The California Water Resources Control Board (CWRCB) approved two analytical methods to evaluate real-world samples. On 7 September 2022, the CWRCB became the first public agency in the world to approve a testing requirement for microplastics in drinking water.
“Although these methods represent an important step in understanding occurrence, further research is needed to develop analytical techniques that are increasingly reliable, efficient, economical, and able to detect plastic particulates at the nanometer scale,” Alspach said. “Such advancements will facilitate the implementation of broader and more reliable occurrence, toxicity, and treatability.”
An Elastic Problem
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also emphasizes the need for standardized and reliable methods for sampling micro- and nanoplastics. The agency is still developing regulatory frameworks for these plastics.
“Given the variety in plastics, there is no standard or ‘one size fits all’ method for quantifying microplastics in environmental samples,” EPA chemist Michaela Cashman wrote in the agency’s Science Matters newsletter published 24 May 2022. “It makes it difficult to compare data and results of various studies when there are hundreds of methods used across the world.”
In addition to developing better testing methods, the U.S. is taking steps to reduce plastic pollution in the first place.
Senator Jeff Merkley, (D-Or.) who co-chaired the joint EPW hearing, sponsored S. 3127, Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2023, which aims to extend the responsibility of producers of consumer products that contain plastic and prevent them from entering animal ecosystems or human food chains.
A group of more than 70 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), wrote a letter on 12 May 2023 to EPA Administrator Michael Regan urging President Joe Biden’s administration to enhance the regulatory standards for microplastics and drinking water standards, including classifying microplastics as hazardous and toxic materials.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enacted the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, which was based on the research of Sherri Mason, a chemist and the director of sustainability at Penn State University’s Erie campus and one of the witnesses present at the 27 February 2024 hearing.
The act prohibits the manufacturing and distribution of nonprescription drugs that are also cosmetics and those that contain plastic microbeads for the purposes of exfoliating or cleansing the body. Common examples of rinse-off nonprescription drugs that are also cosmetics include toothpaste, acne scrubs, anti-bacterial soaps, and anti-dandruff shampoos.
“The dominant degradation pathway for plastics is mechanical, not chemical, or biological,” Mason said. “This makes plastic unique among other materials and is a primary driver for its ecological and human health impact. Plastics are synthetic, they are man-made, and as a consequence, they don’t readily biodegrade as natural materials do, and so they linger in the natural environment.”
Aligning Incentives
Mason and Susanne Brander, an associate professor at the College of Agricultural Sciences, Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences Department and the Coastal Oregon Marine Experiment Station at Oregon State University, agreed that textiles have emerged as a particularly problematic form of microplastic shedding, when clothes are rinsed in a washing machine, for example.
“Simplifying the number of chemicals that are used will make circularity more feasible,” Brander said. “We have been relying on so many different combinations of chemicals that even if it’s biodegrading, it doesn’t mean it isn’t releasing chemicals into the environment.”
For instance, a town of approximately 220,000 residents could emit over 300 million microplastics from dishwashing alone in a single day, according to Environmental Science and Pollution Research International.
According to Mason, one way to reduce waste from microplastics is to simplify the recycling process.
“With plastics, the techniques that exist currently are very time- and people-intensive, and expensive,” Mason said.
Another source of microplastic pollution is plastic PVC pipes, which can shed microplastics and introduce them into the water supply. This situation makes copper pipes a preferable solution, Mason said.
Many companies, including Procter & Gamble, Nestle, PepsiCo, and Unilever are working to comply with regulations that establish limits to microplastic emissions from packaging.
“The biggest piece of the market is packaging,” Mason said. “We’re thinking about alternatives to the packaging and those chemicals that need to change. Coming up with a biodegradable and nontoxic plastic would be a big innovation.”
Alspach said with more cross-disciplinary collaboration, industry, academia, and regulatory partners can achieve solutions to environmental problems faster. One such potential solution could come in the form of sensors capable of detecting nanoplastics in air or soil samples, he said.
“The problem is not the technology [to create a biodegradable water bottle], it’s the scalability,” Alspach said. “The technology already exists. It’s a question of whether there’s a market incentive to do so.”
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About the author: Stefan Modrich is a Washington, D.C.-based reporter for 3E. He covers the latest developments in environmental health and safety policy and regulation. Modrich previously wrote for S&P Global Market Intelligence, The Arizona Republic, and Chicago Tribune. He is an alumnus of Arizona State University and the University of Zagreb.
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