World Environment Day 2023: #BeatingPlasticPollution

Plastic pollution can alter habitats and natural processes, reducing ecosystems’ ability to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food production capabilities, and social well-being. Plastic trash has become so ubiquitous that it has prompted efforts to write a global treaty negotiated by the United Nations.

Studies estimate there are now 15–51 trillion pieces of plastic in the world's oceans, from the equator to the poles, from Arctic ice sheets to the sea floor. Not one square mile of surface ocean anywhere on earth is free of plastic pollution. The problem is growing into a crisis. The fossil fuel industry plans to increase plastic production by 40 percent over the next decade. These oil giants are rapidly building petrochemical plants across the United States to turn fracked gas into plastic. This means more toxic air pollution and plastic in our oceans.

The United Nations Environment Assembly has adopted a historic resolution titled “End Plastic Pollution: Towards an internationally legally binding instrument” that addresses the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal. The resolution promotes a new agreement that prevents and reduces plastic pollution, promotes a circular economy, and addresses the full life cycle of plastics.

It is time for individuals, governments, and businesses to take action to reduce plastic pollution. Here are some ways to get started:

• Reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic products.
• Support businesses that use sustainable packaging and materials.
• Participate in beach cleanups and other community efforts to reduce plastic pollution.
• Advocate for policies that reduce plastic pollution, such as bans on single-use plastics and fees on plastic bags.

Ahead of World Environment Day, OnFoods Foundation joins UNEP in calling for accelerated progress to #BeatPlasticPollution.

Plastic pollution has significant impacts on our food system. It poses various risks, including soil and water contamination, leading to the potential contamination of crops and seafood. This contamination can have detrimental effects on both human health and the environment. 

Consequently, some recent studies have focused on the removal efficiency of drinking water treatment plants and have been aimed at evaluating the mechanisms that control the fate of MPs and NPs.

Plastic products dispersed in the environment are subjected to degradation by several stressors leading to fragmentation of large plastic materials into microplastics, which are tiny particles of plastic, and nanoplastics, which are even smaller particles. 

According to a systematic scoping review published in 2021, the dispersion of plastic particles in all ecological systems also affects the complete food chain, contributing to environmental pollution and posing risks to human health, food security, and the environment. Contamination of the aquatic environment, including water compartments used to produce drinking water, has also lately raised a serious health concern.

Plastic particles can also contaminate food crops directly. A 2020 study found microplastics and nanoplastics in fruit and vegetables sold by supermarkets and in produce sold by local sellers in Catania in Sicily, Italy, according to a BBC Future article. Apples were the most contaminated fruit, and carrots had the highest levels of plastic. The uptake of the plastic particles did not seem to stunt the growth of the crops, according to the research. However, the impact of ingesting plastics on human health is not yet fully understood.

Plastic pollution has become pervasive even in farmland, posing a threat to food security, people’s health, and the environment, according to a report by the UN agriculture agency. The report highlights that Asia was estimated to be the largest user of plastics in agricultural production, accounting for almost half of global usage.

Over the last decade, several studies have reported on the occurrence and toxicity of larger microplastics in environment, as well as on analytical methods to determine them. Conversely, small microplastics and nanoplastics in natural systems have been overlooked, the latter due to high methodological challenges associated to their nano-specific properties. In this respect, the European Parliament’s Policy Department for Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs commissioned a study focused on the potential eco-toxicological impacts of smaller plastic particles, encouraging research aimed at a better characterization of both small micro- and nanoplastics.

Spoke 03 of the OnFoods project directly addresses these topics with one of its flagship research projects, led by the University of Parma under the direction of Prof. Maria Careri, Full Professor of Analytical Chemistry, and Doctor Claudia Zoani, Researcher at the Biotechnology and Agroindustry Division of ENEA. The project, titled "Development and validation of innovative analytical methods for the reliable detection and determination of small micro/nanoplastics in food-related samples," encompasses not only the University of Parma but also involves Barilla and ENEA.

The project DET_MINANOPLASTICS aims to address the pressing issue of plastic pollution and its impact on the food chain by developing and validating innovative analytical methods for small microplastics (SMPs, 100-1 μm) and nanoplastics (NPs, 1000-100 nm) research in samples of food concern to address methodological issues. Indeed, there is a lack of standardized methods for detecting and quantifying SMPs/NPs in food, making this a significant analytical challenge.

To tackle this challenge, the project will focus on several key aspects. It will also leverage the participation of Professor Careri as Principal Investigator (PI) in the PlasticTrace EURAMET project, which aims to harmonize measurement methods for SMPs/NPs in food and environmental samples as required by the EU's CEAP (Circular Economy Action Plan).

Professor Careri states that this project aims at answering a great analytical challenge because the standardization of analytical methods for the identification and quantification of SMPs/NPs in food samples, as well as in the environment, is in its infancy, and validation studies for the reliability assessment of the methods are yet scarce. Although several techniques and methods are available, more effort should be made to improve detection and reliable characterization data of SMPs/NPs: in particular, new methods should be devised for the enrichment and detection of NPs in complex matrices, since concern about plastic pollution is increasing, and estimation of distribution and bioaccumulation of NPs is very urgent to manage risk assessment. Method harmonization should also be devised as data from the investigations currently available are not always comparable.

A final goal of the project is the improvement of the reliability and accuracy of SMPs/NPs characterization through the dissemination of the developed methods to core stakeholders that include accredited commercial laboratories, national environmental institutes and monitoring agencies in different sectors.

Furthermore, Doctor Zoani points out that, although MPs and NPs represent an emerging risk also in terms of food safety, currently sampling, extraction, purification, and identification approaches are not standardized and there is a lack of fit-for-purpose reference materials to ensure metrological traceability of measurement results, making the increasing number of studies on these contaminants difficult to compare. More efforts are therefore needed to address harmonization of validated protocols for extraction of plastic particles through the use of relevant reference particles and for the identification and quantification of SMPs and NPs in food-related samples, as well as to perform general and matrix-specific quality assurance/quality control based on sample type and related constraints.