https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749123008382
"Single-use plastics and food packaging are the most common items polluting the
environment, commonly identified in surveys and litter monitoring campaigns.
There are pushes to ban these products from production and use in different
regions, and to replace them with other materials viewed as “safer” or “more
sustainable”. Here, we address the potential environmental impacts of take-away
cups and lids used for hot and cold beverages, consisting of plastic or paper.
We produced leachates from plastic cups (polypropylene), lids (polystyrene),
and paper cups (lined with polylactic acid), under conditions representative of
plastic leaching in the environment. The packaging items were placed and left
to leach in sediment and freshwater for up to four weeks, and we tested the
toxicity of contaminated water and sediment separately. We used the model
aquatic invertebrate
Chironomus riparius and assessed multiple endpoints both
on larval stages and on emergence to the adult phase. We observed a significant
growth inhibition with all the materials tested when the larvae were exposed in
contaminated sediment. Developmental delays were also observed for all
materials, both in contaminated water and sediment. We investigated teratogenic
effects via the analysis of mouthpart deformities in chironomid larvae, and
observed significant effects on larvae exposed to polystyrene lid leachates (in
sediment). Finally, a significant delay in time to emergence was observed for
females exposed to paper cups leachates (in sediment). Overall, our results
indicate that all the tested food packaging materials can have adverse effects
on chironomids. These effects can be observed from one week of material
leaching in environmental conditions, and tend to increase with increasing
leaching time. Moreover, more effects were observed in contaminated sediment,
indicating that benthic organisms might be especially at risk. This study
highlights the risk posed by take-away packaging and their associated
chemicals, once discarded into the environment."
Via Christoph S.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
