Nanoplastics released from packaging and cosmetics hurts marine life

A team from Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands has revealed that nanoplastics released from packaging and cosmetics and entering the sewage system and surface waters, on the way to the sea, could be harming marine life.

Researchers said that tiny plastic particles enter the sea as plastic debris decomposes and damage is caused to sea animals, reported cosmeticsdesign.com.

The European Union (EU) and the Dutch government are monitoring the presence of plastics in the seas in an effort to understand about current and future concentrations of plastic micro- and nanoparticles in oceanic surroundings.

With the objective of discovering the concentration at which an effect could be noticed, the research team exposed mussels to the various concentrations of nanoplastic.

According to the researchers, in their publication, it was stated that the extent to which the tiny plastic particles clump together is also extremely important for understanding particle uptake and the consequential effects in marine organisms.

The team also studied the quantity of algae food source for mussels, by colouring the plastic nanoparticles and by measuring them using dynamic light scattering.

According to the researchers, by using the study it was possible to determine the particle concentration that had an effect on sea inhabitants.

Wageningen University and Research Centre professor Bart Koelmans said that those effects are not easy to predict because the biological availability of the particles can differ enormously from one organism to another, and because variation in water quality also plays a role.

The scientists, however, plan to conduct many more studies in the future to ascertain the effect that plastics have on marine life, and what the solution could be.