Plastic Pollution Measurement Science

Summary

While plastics have yielded immense benefits to society, discarded plastics or plastic pollution has become a pervasive highly visible problem especially in the marine environment.  Plastic pollution is comprised of many different types of plastics with different shapes and chemical additives.  Chemical methods are therefore needed to answer fundamental questions about quantities, types, sources, transport, fate and impact of plastic pollution in all components of our environment.

Description

Plastic marine debris from a windward beach of the Main Hawaiian Islands catalogued and awaiting polymer identification.

Credit: NIST

NIST seeks to be an international leader and magnet for plastic pollution chemical measurement science. While plastics have yielded immense benefits to society, plastic pollution has become a pervasive global environmental threat requiring urgent understanding and solutions.  Plastic pollution is comprised of many different types of plastics (polymers) and chemical additives and spans an enormous range of sizes, from nanoplastics to megaplastics. Chemical methods are needed across this size continuum to answer fundamental questions about quantities, sources, transport, fate, impacts, and recycling of plastic pollution in all components of our environment.

Reliable measurement methods of plastic quantities and characteristics (e.g. particle size, shape, polymer identity, chemical additive concentration) in complex environmental matrices are still in development. Best practices, reference materials, and inter-laboratory exercises can harmonize plastic pollution measurements. Armed with the most accurate information collected from the most optimal methods, policymakers, industry and the public can target the most effective solutions, such as prevention at the source or recycling. 

NIST CSD BESG scientists are currently focused on five research activities. Methods and technologies developed are transferred to faculty, staff, and students at the Center for Marine Debris Research to answer urgent, fundamental and applied questions regarding plastic marine debris. This work is part of NIST's Circular Economy program, which supports the nation’s need to transition away from a linear economy model in which materials are extracted from the environment, manufactured into products that are discarded toward an economy in which the atoms and molecules that make up plastic products are reused and retain their value.

 

Microplastic pollution at the high tide line of a windward beach in the Main Hawaiian Islands.

Credit: Susan Paulson

Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR FT-IR) commonly used to identify polymers of plastic marine debris.

Credit: NIST

RELATED NIST PROJECTS

Measurements and Standards for Contaminants in Wildlife Matrices
National long-term monitoring project of plastic ingestion by Pacific sea turtles (BEMAST)

Related Standard Reference Materials

SRM	Title	Status
SRM 1453	Thermal Conductivity - Expanded Polystyrene Board	out of stock
SRM 1473c	Low Density Polyethylene Resin
SRM 1474b	Polyethylene Resin
SRM 1475a	Linear Polyethylene (Whole Polymer)	out of stock
SRM 1476a	Branched Polyethylene Resin
SRM 1478	Polystyrene (Narrow Molecular Weight Distribution)
SRM 1479	Polystyrene (Narrow Molecular Weight Distribution)
SRM 1482a	Linear Polyethylene Narrow Molecular Mass Distribution (13 600 g/mol)	out of stock
SRM 1483a	Linear Polyethylene Narrow Molecular Mass Distribution (32 100 g/mol)	out of stock
SRM 1484a	Polyethylene, Linear
SRM 1487	Poly (methyl methacrylate)	discontinued
SRM 1488	Poly(methyl methacrylate) 29 K Narrow Molecular Weight Distribution
SRM 1690	Polystyrene Spheres (Nominal Diameter 1 µm)	out of stock
SRM 1691	Polystyrene Spheres (Nominal Diameter 0.3 µm)	out of stock
SRM 1961	Nominal 30 micrometer Diameter Polystyrene Spheres
SRM 1963a	Polystyrene Spheres (Nominal Diameter 100 nm)	out of stock
SRM 1964	Polystyrene Spheres (Nominal Diameter 60 nm)
SRM 1965	Microsphere Slide (10 micrometer Polystyrene Spheres)	discontinued
SRM 2855	Additive Elements in Polyethylene
SRM 2859	Restricted Elements in Polyvinyl Chloride
SRM 2860	Phthalates in Polyvinyl Chloride
SRM 2861	Restricted Elements in Polyvinyl Chloride
SRM 2870	Relative Permittivity and Loss Tangent 1422 Cross-Linked Polystyrene	discontinued
SRM 2885	Polyethylene (Mass-Average Molar Mass [MW] 6 280 g/mol)	out of stock
SRM 2886	Polyethylene (Mass-Average Molar Mass [MW] 87 000 g/mol)	out of stock
SRM 2887	Polyethylene (Mass-Average Molar Mass [MW] 196 400 g/mol)	out of stock
SRM 705a	Polystyrene (Narrow Molecular Weight Distribution)
SRM 706a	Polystyrene (Broad Molecular Mass Distribution)
SRM 8540	IAEA-CH-7 (Carbon and Hydrogen Isotopes in Polyethylene Foil)

ASSOCIATED PUBLICATIONS

1.  Seeley, M. E., Hale, R. C., Zwollo, P., Vogelbein, W., Verry, G., and Wargo, A. R., "Microplastics exacerbate virus-mediated mortality in fish," Science of the Total Environment, 866, (2023). 

2.  Seeley, M. E. and Lynch, J. M., "Previous successes and untapped potential of pyrolysis-GC/MS for the analysis of plastic pollution," Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, (2023). 

3.  Kotula, A. P., Orski, S. V., Brignac, K. C., Lynch, J. M., and Heilala, B. M. J., "Time-gated Raman spectroscopy of recovered plastics," Marine Pollution Bulletin, 181, (2022). 

4.  Petersen, E. J., Barrios, A. C., Henry, T. B., Johnson, M. E., Koelmans, A. A., Bustos, A. R. M., Matheson, J., Roesslein, M., Zhao, J., and Xing, B. S., "Potential Artifacts and Control Experiments in Toxicity Tests of Nanoplastic and Microplastic Particles," Environ. Sci. Technol., 56, 15192-15206 (2022). 

5.  Savoca, M. S., Kuhn, S., Sun, C. J., Avery-Gomm, S., Choy, C. A., Dudas, S., Hong, S. H., Hyrenbach, K. D., Li, T. H., Ng, C. K. Y., Provencher, J. F., and Lynch, J. M., "Towards a North Pacific Ocean long-term monitoring program for plastic pollution: A review and recommendations for plastic ingestion bioindicators," Environmental Pollution, 310, (2022). 

6.  Zangmeister, C. D., Radney, J. G., Benkstein, K. D., and Kalanyan, B., "Common Single-Use Consumer Plastic Products Release Trillions ofSub-100 nm Nanoparticles per Liter into Water during Normal Use," Environ. Sci. Technol., 56, 5448-5455 (2022). 

7.  Cowger, W., Steinmetz, Z., Gray, A., Munno, K., Lynch, J., Hapich, H., Primpke, S., De Frond, H., Rochman, C., and Herodotou, O., "Microplastic Spectral Classification Needs an Open Source Community: Open Specy to the Rescue!," Analytical Chemistry, 93, 7543-7548 (2021). 

8.  Hyrenbach, K. D., McGinnis, Z., Page, K., Rapp, D., Horgen, F. D., and Lynch, J. M., "Assessment of plastic ingestion by pole-caught pelagic predatory fish from O'ahu, Hawai'i," Aquatic Conservation-Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems, 31, 408-419 (2021). 

9.  Cowger, W., Booth, A. M., Hamilton, B. M., Thaysen, C., Primpke, S., Munno, K., Lusher, A. L., Dehaut, A., Vaz, V. P., Liboiron, M., Devriese, L. I., Hermabessiere, L., Rochman, C., Athey, S. N., Lynch, J. M., De Frond, H., Gray, A., Jones, O. A. H., Brander, S., Steele, C., Moore, S., Sanchez, A., and Nel, H., "Reporting Guidelines to Increase the Reproducibility and Comparability of Research on Microplastics," Applied Spectroscopy, 74, 1066-1077 (2020). 

10.  Brignac, K. C., Jung, M. R., King, C., Royer, S. J., Blickley, L., Lamson, M. R., Potemra, J. T., and Lynch, J. M., "Marine Debris Polymers on Main Hawaiian Island Beaches, Sea Surface, and Seafloor," Environ. Sci. Technol., 53, 12218-12226 (2019). 

11.  Currie, J. J., Stack, S. H., Brignac, K. C., and Lynch, J. M., "Nearshore sea surface macro marine debris in Maui County, Hawaii: Distribution, drivers, and polymer composition," Marine Pollution Bulletin, 138, 70-83 (2019). 

12.  Gove, J. M., Whitney, J. L., McManus, M. A., Lecky, J., Carvalho, F. C., Lynch, J. M., Li, J. W., Neubauer, P., Smith, K. A., Phipps, J. E., Kobayashi, D. R., Balagso, K. B., Contreras, E. A., Manuel, M. E., Merrifield, M. A., Polovina, J. J., Asner, G. P., Maynard, J. A., and Williams, G. J., "Prey-size plastics are invading larval fish nurseries," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116, 24143-24149 (2019). 

13.  Clukey, K. E., Lepczyk, C. A., Balazs, G. H., Work, T. M., Li, Q. X., Bachman, M. J., and Lynch, J. M., "Persistent organic pollutants in fat of three species of Pacific pelagic longline caught sea turtles: Accumulation in relation to ingested plastic marine debris," Science of the Total Environment, 610, 402-411 (2018). 

14.  Jung, M. R., Horgen, F. D., Orski, S. V., Rodriguez, C. V., Beers, K. L., Balazs, G. H., Jones, T. T., Work, T. M., Brignac, K. C., Royer, S. J., Hyrenbach, K. D., Jensen, B. A., and Lynch, J. M., "Validation of ATR FT-IR to identify polymers of plastic marine debris, including those ingested by marine organisms," Marine Pollution Bulletin, 127, 704-716 (2018). 

15.  Jung, M. R., Balazs, G. H., Work, T. M., Jones, T. T., Orski, S. V., Rodriguez, C. V., Beers, K. L., Brignac, K. C., Hyrenbach, K. D., Jensen, B. A., and Lynch, J. M., "Polymer Identification of Plastic Debris Ingested by Pelagic-Phase Sea Turtles in the Central Pacific," Environ. Sci. Technol., 52, 11535-11544 (2018). 

16.  Jennifer M. Lynch. “Quantities of Marine Debris Ingested by Sea Turtles: Global Meta-Analysis Highlights Need for Standardized Data Reporting Methods and Reveals Relative Risk.” Environ.Sci.Technol. 52 (21):12026-12038, 2018. 

17.  Clukey, K. E., Lepczyk, C. A., Balazs, G. H., Work, T. M., and Lynch, J. M., "Investigation of plastic debris ingestion by four species of sea turtles collected as bycatch in pelagic Pacific longline fisheries," Marine Pollution Bulletin, 120, 117-125 (2017).