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Environmental plastics in the context of UV radiation, climate change, and the Montreal Protocol
Summary
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.