Publication details

Interlinkage Between Persistent Organic Pollutants and Plastic in the Waste Management System of India: An Overview

Authors

CHAKRABORTY Paromita CHANDRA Sarath DIMMEN Malene Vagen HURLEY Rachel MOHANTY Smita BHARAT Girija K. STEINDAL Eirik Hovland OLSEN Marianne NIZZETTO Luca

Year of publication 2022
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Web https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00128-022-03466-x
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00128-022-03466-x
Keywords Waste plastic; Recycling; Processes; Persistent organic pollutants; India
Description Improper handling of plastic waste and related chemical pollution has garnered much attention in recent years owing to the associated detrimental impacts on human health and the environment. This article reports an overview of the main interlink-ages between persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and plastic in the waste management system of India. Both plastics and POPs share certain common traits such as persistence, resistance to biological degradation, and the ability to get transported over long distances. Throughout the processes of production, consumption, and disposal, plastics interact with and accumulate POPs through several mechanisms and end up co-existing in the environment. Plastic waste can undergo long-range transport through rivers and the oceans, break down into microplastics and get transported through the air, or remain locked in waste dump yards and landfills. Over time, environmental processes lead to the leaching and release of accumulated POPs from these plastic wastes. Plastic recycling in the Indian informal sector including smelting, scrubbing, and shredding of plastic waste, is also a potential major POPs source that demands further investigation. The presence of POPs in plastic waste and their fate in the plastic recycling process have not yet been elucidated. By enhancing our understanding of these processes, this paper may aid policy decisions to combat the release of POPs from different waste types and processes in India.

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