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Environmental plastics in the context of UV radiation, climate change, and the Montreal Protocol
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This review examines how UV radiation and climate change interact with environmental plastics to alter their degradation rates and toxic profiles, with particular focus on how ozone depletion affects UV-induced plastic fragmentation. The authors argue that changing UV environments under climate change will accelerate plastic breakdown and increase nanoplastic production in surface waters.
There are close links between solar UV radiation, climate change, and plastic pollution. UV-driven weathering is a key process leading to the degradation of plastics in the environment but also the formation of potentially harmful plastic fragments such as micro- and nanoplastic particles. Estimates of the environmental persistence of plastic pollution, and the formation of fragments, will need to take in account plastic dispersal around the globe, as well as projected UV radiation levels and climate change factors.
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The Montreal Protocol and the fate of environmental plastic debris
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This study modeled how the Montreal Protocol-driven recovery of stratospheric ozone and associated increase in solar UV reaching Earth's surface will affect the photodegradation rate of plastic litter, finding that increased UV exposure will accelerate secondary microplastic generation from environmental plastic debris.
Oxidation and fragmentation of plastics in a changing environment; from UV-radiation to biological degradation
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This review examines how plastics break down in the environment through UV radiation, weathering, and biological processes, producing smaller and smaller fragments including microplastics and nanoplastics. The breakdown process also releases chemical additives and creates particles with altered surface properties that may be more toxic than the original plastic. Understanding these degradation pathways is critical because the secondary particles produced may pose greater risks to ecosystems and human health than the larger plastic debris.
The response of aquatic ecosystems to the interactive effects of stratospheric ozone depletion, UV radiation, and climate change
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This assessment reviews how changes in UV radiation and climate interact to affect aquatic ecosystems, including impacts on water chemistry and organisms. The breakdown of plastics by UV light is highlighted as a growing concern, since sunlight accelerates the creation of microplastics and nanoplastics in water. These smaller plastic fragments are more easily taken up by aquatic life, increasing the potential for microplastics to enter the human food chain.
Progress on the photo aging mechanism of microplastics and related impact factors in water environment
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This review examined the photo-aging mechanisms of microplastics in aquatic environments, finding that solar UV radiation drives oxidation reactions that alter surface chemistry, fragment particles further, and enhance their capacity to adsorb and release co-occurring pollutants.
Non-Negligible Effects of UV Irradiation on Transformation and Environmental Risks of Microplastics in the Water Environment
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This review examines how UV irradiation drives photoaging of microplastics in aquatic environments, altering their surface chemistry, mechanical properties, and adsorption capacity for co-pollutants, and thereby amplifying their ecotoxicological risks beyond those of virgin plastic particles.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.