Evaluation of the degradation from micro to nanoplastics from biodegradable bags in marine conditions

The global accumulation of micro- and nanoplastics is a growing concern for the environmental and human health. Additionally, biodegradable plastics have emerged as promising alternatives to conventional plastics to address the problematic of plastic pollution. However, their biodegradability and composting behaviour in natural environments are not fully understood and characterized. Moreover, there is lack of data available on the potential release of nanoplastics from these plastics and scarce data for microplastics release from them. In this study, we studied the release of nanoplatics from three biodegradable bags (i.e. BioTuf, EcoPack and BioBag) in marine conditions over 28 days using nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman spectroscopy. We included the pristine biodegradable microplastics as controls: PHB, PHBv, PLA and PBAT. Our findings revealed the presence of particles smaller than 1000 nm in all the biodegradable plastics, including the bags. The Raman analysis showed variation on the chemical composition of bags after exposure on marine conditions. Furthermore, our NTA results are consistent with the biological oxygen demand (BDO) test data and are also in agreement with previous literature findings, which suggest that the degradation of BioTuf, EcoPack, and BioBag is not significant in marine conditions. Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559748/document