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Plastic button manufacturing as an under-recognized source of airborne multi-pollutant mixtures: process-resolved characterization and potential health risk
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Plastic button factories release a hidden cocktail of harmful substances, including styrene, toxic metals like manganese, and "forever chemicals" (PFAS), often at levels far exceeding safety limits for nerve and bone health. This matters because workers in these facilities face serious, underrecognized health risks that current safety standards may not adequately address.
This study presents a process-resolved airborne characterization of a plastic button manufacturing facility using an unsaturated polyester resin, integrating particle size distributions, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), metals, inorganic anions, phthalates, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Particle number concentrations (10 nm–10 μm) exhibited unit-dependent submicron maxima, reaching 1.10 × 10 5 particles·cm −3 in electroplating operations, indicating localized aerosol generation. Emissions displayed clear compositional differentiation across operational domains: styrene was a dominant VOC, with the highest concentration in Plating (Glossy)_1 (1,506 µg·m −3 ), while wet-chemical lines showed elevated inorganic burdens, including total Cr (526 µg·m −3 ) and SO 4 2− (4,932 µg·m⁻ 3 ). Among semi-volatile organics, di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) reached a maximum concentration of 2.67 µg·m −3 , while PFAS detections were confined to wet-chemical operations, with PFOA and PFOS reaching approximately 0.18 µg·m −3 . Principal component analysis resolved solvent-driven, mechanically associated, and wet-chemical emission domains. Risk assessment identified Mn as the principal contributor to the nervous-system HI (Mn, styrene, toluene, xylenes, and n-hexane), whereas F − determined the skeletal HI. The nervous-system and skeletal HIs reached maxima of 1.17 × 10 3 and 2.26 × 10 2 , respectively, while benzene-driven carcinogenic risk peaked at 6.87 × 10 −5 , below the 10⁻ 4 benchmark. Plastic button manufacturing is thus characterized as a multi-source emission environment structured by discrete unit operations along the production line, with styrene, transition metals, inorganic anions, and semi-volatile additives serving as principal exposure determinants. These findings establish a quantitative framework for occupational exposure prioritization in plastic button manufacturing systems.
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