Ones That Get Away: Investigating the Leaching of Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic Plastic Additives from New and Environmentally Sampled Plastic Items

Plastic additives are substances used to aid in plastic
manufacturing
or to impart unique properties (e.g., colorants, plasticizers, etc.).
However, some plastic additives are persistent, mobile, and toxic
(PMT). PMT substances can pose a substantial risk to water quality,
as their stability and low adsorption potential enable them to pass
through water treatment processes and remain in the environment long
after their release. Importantly, many additives can leach out of
plastics during environmental weathering. Despite these known risks,
there has yet to be any work studying PMT plastic additive release
from different plastic items or how weathering may impact their leaching.
Herein, PMT plastic additive leaching from store-bought and environmentally
sampled plastic items was investigated. The leachates of 68 plastic
items were analyzed by using high-performance liquid chromatography
with quantitative time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Significantly
higher (p = 0.05) numbers and levels of PMT substances
were observed in the environmental samples when compared to store-bought.
Furthermore, item categories such as toys and hardware supplies had
higher numbers or levels of PMT substances than other items. These
results discuss the role that weathering can play in PMT leaching
and highlight items and compounds with high amounts or numbers of
PMT substances, which can inform future monitoring.