Terrestrial ecotoxicity of plastics: Effect factors for life cycle impact assessment - Data retrieved from ecotoxicity experiments and Python code for analyses and effect factor calculation

This repository contains (i) the data extracted from ecotoxicity experiments with plastics in soil, which were used to analyze the factors influencing effect concentrations, develop species sensitivity distribution curves, and calculate exposure-and-effect factors for terrestrial ecotoxicity of plastic pollution (SM2), and (ii) the code used for the statistical analysis (SM3) and calculation of terrestrial ecotoxicity exposure-and-effect factors for inclusion in life cycle assessment (SM4). The methodology for the data collection and conversion is described in the article linked below. Briefly, we identified relevant scientific literature by using the search term and exclusion criteria indicated in the article and extracted 680 data points: one per emission type (polymer type, size class, and shape) and target organism, as listed in the Excel file "SM2_Effect-oncentrations.xlsx". For each data point, we recorded details regarding (i) emission characteristics: polymer type and chemical family, size, and shape, (ii) experimental conditions: soil used and water holding capacity, (iii) target organism characteristics: kingdom and species, and (iv) measurement (meta) data: dose descriptor, endpoint, and effect concentration in g/kg soil. We applied the uncertainty factors for exposure time (UFtime) and dose descriptor (UFdose) of Wigger et al. (2020) to systematically address uncertainty arising from heterogeneous ecotoxicity data. For HONEC values, we defined three treatment options: 1. exclusion of HONEC values (‘noH’), 2. application of the same UFdose as for NOEC values based on the precautionary principle and basing UFdose for NOEC values on Aurisano et al. (2019) (‘H1’), and 3. application of the same UFdose as for NOEC values based on the precautionary principle and assigning a conversion factor of 0.5 to NOEC values (‘H2’) in line with ECHA (2008). All data points were classified as acute or chronic based on species-dependent thresholds (Tunali et al. 2023). For acute values, three treatment options were defined: 1. exclusion of acute values (‘noac’), 2. application of a UFtime of 10 (‘UFt10’) based on Brix et al. (2001) and Wigger et al. (2020), and 3. application of a UFtime of 2 (‘UFt2’) based on Rosenbaum et al. (2008), Fantke et al. (2017), and Lavoie et al. (2021). Each scenario represents a unique combination of a HONEC treatment and an acute-data treatment, resulting in nine scenarios in total: noH-noac, noH-UFt10, noH-UFt2, H1-noac, H1-UFt10, H1-UFt2, H2-noac, H2-UFt10, and H2-UFt2. Scenario names indicate the treatment of HONEC values (noH, H1, or H2) followed by the treatment of acute values (noac, UFt10, or UFt2). References: Aurisano, Nicolò; Albizzati, Paola Federica; Hauschild, Michael; Fantke, Peter (2019): Extrapolation Factors for Characterizing Freshwater Ecotoxicity Effects. In Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 38 (11), pp. 2568–2582. DOI: 10.1002/etc.4564. Brix, K. V.; DeForest, D. K.; Adams, W. J. (2001): Assessing acute and chronic copper risks to freshwater aquatic life using species sensitivity distributions for different taxonomic groups. In Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 20 (8), pp. 1846–1856. ECHA (2008): Guidance on information requirements and chemical safety assessment. Chapter R.10: Characterisation of dose [concentration]‐response for environment. Edited by European Chemicals Agency. Helsinki (FI). Fantke, Peter; Bijster, Marian; Guignard, Cécile; Hauschild, Michael; Huijbregts, Mark; Jolliet, Olivier et al. (2017): USEtox® 2.0 Documentation (Version 1.1). Lavoie, Jérôme; Boulay, Anne‐Marie; Bulle, Cécile (2021): Aquatic micro‐ and nano‐plastics in life cycle assessment: Development of an effect factor for the quantification of their physical impact on biota. In J Ind Ecol. DOI: 10.1111/jiec.13140. Rosenbaum, Ralph K.; Bachmann, Till M.; Gold, Lois Swirsky; Huijbregts, Mark A. J.; Jolliet, Olivier; Juraske, Ronnie et al. (2008): USEtox—the UNEP-SETAC toxicity model. Recommended characterisation factors for human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in life cycle impact assessment. In Int J Life Cycle Assess 13 (7), pp. 532–546. DOI: 10.1007/s11367-008-0038-4. Tunali, Merve; Adam, Véronique; Nowack, Bernd (2023): Probabilistic environmental risk assessment of microplastics in soils. In Geoderma 430, p. 116315. DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2022.116315. Wigger, Henning; Kawecki, Delphine; Nowack, Bernd; Adam, Véronique (2020): Systematic Consideration of Parameter Uncertainty and Variability in Probabilistic Species Sensitivity Distributions. In Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management 16 (2), pp. 211–222. DOI: 10.1002/ieam.4214.