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Weathering of Plastics
Summary
This book chapter defines weathering in the context of plastics and reviews the physical, chemical, and biological processes that fragment plastic materials into increasingly smaller particles in the environment. It covers how weathering creates a heterogeneous mix of plastic particles differing in size, shape, density, and chemical composition.
This chapter provides a definition of weathering and presents information on the processes of weathering and attendant changes in plastics when introduced into the environment. Once released into the environment, the plastic particles degrade under the influence of several natural and artificial factors and consequently get fragmented into smaller pieces, comprising a very heterogeneous group of particles that vary in size, shape, color, specific density, chemical composition, and other characteristics. Thus, the term weathering indicates “all the changes in physical, chemical, and biological attributes of the plastic particle” that might have accrued/impacted on it since its introduction into the environment. Collation of the published information in this regard allowed the construction of a sequence of events explaining the progressive changes involved in the transformation of primary plastic into various types of micro- and/or nanoplastic with a host of physical, chemical, and biological characteristics.