Divergent Forms of Pyroplastic: Lessons Learned from the M/V X-Press Pearl Ship Fire

Moldable Plastics (Polycaprolactone) can be Acutely Toxic to Developing Zebrafish and Activate Nuclear Receptors in Mammalian Cells

Popularized on social media, hand-moldable plastics are formed by consumers into tools, trinkets, and dental prosthetics. Despite the anticipated dermal and oral contact, manufacturers share little information with consumers about these materials, which are typically sold as microplastic-sized resin pellets. Inherent to their function, moldable plastics pose a risk of dermal and oral exposure to unknown leachable substances. We analyzed 12 moldable plastics advertised for modeling and dental applications and determined them to be polycaprolactone (PCL) or thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The bioactivities of the most popular brands advertised for modeling applications of each type of polymer were evaluated using a zebrafish embryo bioassay. While water-borne exposure to the TPU pellets did not affect the targeted developmental end points at any concentration tested, the PCL pellets were acutely toxic above 1 pellet/mL. The aqueous leachates of the PCL pellets demonstrated similar toxicity. Methanolic extracts from the PCL pellets were assayed for their bioactivity using the Attagene FACTORIAL platform. Of the 69 measured end points, the extracts activated nuclear receptors and transcription factors for xenobiotic metabolism (pregnane X receptor, PXR), lipid metabolism (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ, PPARγ), and oxidative stress (nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, NRF2). By nontargeted high-resolution comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC × GC-HRT), we tentatively identified several compounds in the methanolic extracts, including PCL oligomers, a phenolic antioxidant, and residues of suspected antihydrolysis and cross-linking additives. In a follow-up zebrafish embryo bioassay, because of its stated high purity, biomedical grade PCL was tested to mitigate any confounding effects due to chemical additives in the PCL pellets; it elicited comparable acute toxicity. From these orthogonal and complementary experiments, we suggest that the toxicity was due to oligomers and nanoplastics released from the PCL rather than chemical additives. These results challenge the perceived and assumed inertness of plastics and highlight their multiple sources of toxicity.

Plastic litter affected by heat or pressure: A review of current research on remoulded plastic litter

Pyroplastic, plastiglomerates, anthropogenic rocks, plasticrusts, pebble clasts, plastitar, plastisoil and anthropoquinas are examples of terms that have been used to describe the secondary products of plastic litter that have been melted, moulded, pressed, or cemented together with other plastic litter and/or minerogenic sediments or organic matter, either naturally or anthropogenically. Such processes may also favor the formation of new geological features containing plastics, such as coastal landforms or sedimentary rocks. Further research and classification of this secondary plastic litter is critical for understanding the implications of this emerging contaminant as well as to create well-targeted measures to reduce it. The literature review as presented includes 32 peer-reviewed articles published between 1997 and June 2023, all of which describe various burnt or otherwise remoulded plastic litter from around the world. Based on our review we propose a new umbrella term for the different forms of secondary plastic litter that have been modified by heat or pressure: Remoulded Plastic Litter (RPL). If accepted by the research community, important steps for future research and policy will be to implement RPL into the OSPAR protocol for monitoring and assessment of marine litter and thereby fill knowledge gaps of the geographic distribution of RPLs and their potential toxicities to nature and humans. It is clear that the distribution of RPL research spans the globe, however, studies in Africa, Oceania, large tracts of the polar regions, and terrestrial areas in general, are scarce to absent, as are ecotoxicological studies and recommendations for policy development.

Characterization of three plastic forms: Plasticoncrete, plastimetal and plastisessiles

Plastic forms, including plastiglomerate, pyroplastic, plasticrusts, anthropoquinas, plastistone and plastitar, were recorded worldwide. These plastic forms derive from geochemical or geophysical interactions such as heat-induced plastic fusion with rock in campfires, incomplete plastic combustion, water motion-driven plastic abrasion in the rocky intertidal zone, plastic deposition in hardened sediments and plastic bonding with tar. Thereby, these interactions can profoundly influence the fate of plastics in the environment. This study characterized three novel plastic forms (plasticoncrete, plastimetal and plastisessiles) discovered on Helgoland island (North Sea). Plasticoncrete consisted of common polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) fibers hardened in concrete. Plastimetal included PE fibers rusted with metal. Plastisessiles consisted of PE fibers attached to benthic substrates by sessile invertebrates (oysters and polychaetes). Plasticoncrete and plastimetal are the first plastic forms composed of two man-made materials. Plastisessiles show that plastic forms not only result from human- or environment-mediated interactions but also from biological interactions between invertebrates and plastic. All plastic forms (bulk density ≥ 1.4 g/cm3) sunk during floating tests and hardly changed their positions during a 13-day field experiment and 153- to 306-day field monitorings, indicating their local formation, limited mobility and longevity. Still, experimentally detached plastic fibers floated, confirming that the formation of these plastic forms influences the fate of plastic fibers in the environment. Furthermore, the experiment showed that plasticoncrete got deposited in beach sand under wavy and windy conditions, indicating that coastal waves and onshore winds drive plasticoncrete deposition in coastal sediments. We also provide first records of plasticoncrete on Mallorca island (Mediterranean Sea) and plastimetal on Hikoshima island (Sea of Japan), respectively, which show that these plastic forms are no local phenomena. Thereby, our study contributes to the growing fundamental knowledge of plastic forms that is essential to understand the role and fate of these pollutants in coastal habitats worldwide.

Fire and Oil Led to Complex Mixtures of PAHs on Burnt and Unburnt Plastic during the M/V X-Press Pearl Disaster

In May 2021, the M/V X-Press Pearl container ship burned for 2 weeks, leading to the largest maritime spill of resin pellets (nurdles). The disaster was exacerbated by the leakage of other cargo and the ship's underway fuel. This disaster affords the unique opportunity to study a time-stamped, geolocated release of plastic under real-world conditions. Field samples collected from beaches in Sri Lanka nearest to the ship comprised nurdles exposed to heat and combustion, burnt plastic pieces (pyroplastic), and oil-plastic agglomerates (petroplastic). An unresolved question is whether the 1600+ tons of spilled and recovered plastic should be considered hazardous waste. Due to the known formation and toxicity of combustion-derived polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), we measured 20 parent and 21 alkylated PAHs associated with several types of spilled plastic. The maximum PAH content of the sampled pyroplastic had the greatest amount of PAHs recorded for marine plastic debris (199,000 ng/g). In contrast, the sampled unburnt white nurdles had two orders of magnitude less PAH content. The PAH composition varied between the types of spilled plastic and presented features typical of and conflicting with petrogenic and pyrogenic sources. Nevertheless, specific markers and compositional changes for burning plastics were identified, revealing that the fire was the main source of PAHs. Eight months after the spill, the PAH contents of sampled stray nurdles and pyroplastic were reduced by more than 50%. Due to their PAH content exceeding levels allowable for plastic consumer goods, classifying burnt plastic as hazardous waste may be warranted. Following a largely successful cleanup, we recommend that the Sri Lankans re-evaluate the identification, handling, and disposal of the plastic debris collected from beaches and the potential exposure of responders and the public to PAHs from handling it. The maritime disaster underscores pyroplastic as a type of plastic pollution that has yet to be fully explored, despite the pervasiveness of intentional and unintentional burning of plastic globally.

A new hotspot of macro-litter in the Rutland Island, South Andaman, India: menace from IORC

Supralittoral zones of 13 sandy beaches of remote Rutland Island were divided into three zones to identify the litter contamination, its source, pathway of plastic transport to determine the level of macro-litter contamination, and its impact on coastal biota. Owing to the floral and faunal diversity, apart of the study area is protected under Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park (MGMNP). The supralittoral zones of each sandy beach (between low-tide and high-tide line) were individually calculated from 2021 Landsat-8 satellite imagery before conducting the field survey. The total area of the surveyed beaches was 0.52 km² (5,20,020.79 m²), and 317,565 litters representing 27 distinct litter types were enumerated. Two beaches in Zone-II and six in Zone-III were clean; however, all five in Zone-I were very dirty. The highest litter density (1.03 items/m²) was observed in Photo Nallah 1 and Photo Nallah 2, whereas the lowest (0.09 items/m²) was observed in Jahaji Beach. According to the Clean Coast Index (CCI), Jahaji Beach (Zone-III) is the very cleanest beach (1.74) while other beaches of Zone-II and Zone-III are clean. The findings of the Plastic Abundance Index (PAI) indicate that Zone-II and Zone-III beaches have a low abundance of plastics (< 1), while two beaches of Zone-I, viz., Katla Dera and Dhani Nallah, exhibited a moderate abundance of plastics (< 4) while a high abundance of plastics (< 8) was observed in the rest of three beaches of the same zone. The primary contributor of litter on Rutland's beaches was plastic polymers (60-99%), which were presumed to originate from the Indian Ocean Rim Countries (IORC). A collective litter management initiative by the IORC is essential in preventing littering on remote islands.

Formulation Controls the Potential Neuromuscular Toxicity of Polyethylene Photoproducts in Developing Zebrafish

Sunlight transforms plastic into water-soluble products, the potential toxicity of which remains unresolved, particularly for vertebrate animals. We evaluated acute toxicity and gene expression in developing zebrafish larvae after 5 days of exposure to photoproduced (P) and dark (D) leachates from additive-free polyethylene (PE) film and consumer-grade, additive-containing, conventional, and recycled PE bags. Using a "worst-case" scenario, with plastic concentrations exceeding those found in natural waters, we observed no acute toxicity. However, at the molecular level, RNA sequencing revealed differences in the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) for each leachate treatment: thousands of genes (5442 P, 577 D) for the additive-free film, tens of genes for the additive-containing conventional bag (14 P, 7 D), and none for the additive-containing recycled bag. Gene ontology enrichment analyses suggested that the additive-free PE leachates disrupted neuromuscular processes via biophysical signaling; this was most pronounced for the photoproduced leachates. We suggest that the fewer DEGs elicited by the leachates from conventional PE bags (and none from recycled bags) could be due to differences in photoproduced leachate composition caused by titanium dioxide-catalyzed reactions not present in the additive-free PE. This work demonstrates that the potential toxicity of plastic photoproducts can be product formulation-specific.

Valoration of the Synthetic Antioxidant Tris-(Diterbutyl-Phenol)-Phosphite (Irgafos P-168) from Industrial Wastewater and Application in Polypropylene Matrices to Minimize Its Thermal Degradation

Industrial wastewater from petrochemical processes is an essential source of the synthetic phenolic phosphite antioxidant (Irgafos P-168), which negatively affects the environment. For the determination and analysis of Irgafos P-168, DSC, HPLC-MS, and FTIR methodologies were used. Solid phase extraction (SPE) proved to be the best technique for extracting Irgafos from wastewater. HPLC-MS and SPE determined the repeatability, reproducibility, and linearity of the method and the SPE of the standards and samples. The relative standard deviations, errors, and correlation coefficients for the repeatability and reproducibility of the calibration curves were less than 4.4% and 4.2% and greater than 0.99955, respectively. The analysis of variance (ANOVA), using the Fisher method with confidence in 95% of the data, did not reveal significant differences between the mentioned parameters. The removal of the antioxidant from the wastewater by SPE showed recovery percentages higher than 91.03%, and the chemical characterization of this antioxidant by FTIR spectroscopy, DSC, TGA, and MS showed it to be structurally the same as the Irgafos P-168 molecule. The recovered Irgafos was added to the polypropylene matrix, significantly improving its oxidation times. An OIT analysis, performed using DSC, showed that the recovered Irgafos-blended polypropylene (PP) demonstrated oxidative degradation at 8 min. With the addition of the Irgafos, the oxidation time was 13 min. This increases the polypropylene’s useful life and minimizes the environmental impact of the wastewater.

The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health

Background

Plastics have conveyed great benefits to humanity and made possible some of the most significant advances of modern civilization in fields as diverse as medicine, electronics, aerospace, construction, food packaging, and sports. It is now clear, however, that plastics are also responsible for significant harms to human health, the economy, and the earth's environment. These harms occur at every stage of the plastic life cycle, from extraction of the coal, oil, and gas that are its main feedstocks through to ultimate disposal into the environment. The extent of these harms not been systematically assessed, their magnitude not fully quantified, and their economic costs not comprehensively counted.

Goals

The goals of this Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health are to comprehensively examine plastics' impacts across their life cycle on: (1) human health and well-being; (2) the global environment, especially the ocean; (3) the economy; and (4) vulnerable populations-the poor, minorities, and the world's children. On the basis of this examination, the Commission offers science-based recommendations designed to support development of a Global Plastics Treaty, protect human health, and save lives.

Report Structure

This Commission report contains seven Sections. Following an Introduction, Section 2 presents a narrative review of the processes involved in plastic production, use, and disposal and notes the hazards to human health and the environment associated with each of these stages. Section 3 describes plastics' impacts on the ocean and notes the potential for plastic in the ocean to enter the marine food web and result in human exposure. Section 4 details plastics' impacts on human health. Section 5 presents a first-order estimate of plastics' health-related economic costs. Section 6 examines the intersection between plastic, social inequity, and environmental injustice. Section 7 presents the Commission's findings and recommendations.

Plastics

Plastics are complex, highly heterogeneous, synthetic chemical materials. Over 98% of plastics are produced from fossil carbon- coal, oil and gas. Plastics are comprised of a carbon-based polymer backbone and thousands of additional chemicals that are incorporated into polymers to convey specific properties such as color, flexibility, stability, water repellence, flame retardation, and ultraviolet resistance. Many of these added chemicals are highly toxic. They include carcinogens, neurotoxicants and endocrine disruptors such as phthalates, bisphenols, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), brominated flame retardants, and organophosphate flame retardants. They are integral components of plastic and are responsible for many of plastics' harms to human health and the environment.Global plastic production has increased almost exponentially since World War II, and in this time more than 8,300 megatons (Mt) of plastic have been manufactured. Annual production volume has grown from under 2 Mt in 1950 to 460 Mt in 2019, a 230-fold increase, and is on track to triple by 2060. More than half of all plastic ever made has been produced since 2002. Single-use plastics account for 35-40% of current plastic production and represent the most rapidly growing segment of plastic manufacture.Explosive recent growth in plastics production reflects a deliberate pivot by the integrated multinational fossil-carbon corporations that produce coal, oil and gas and that also manufacture plastics. These corporations are reducing their production of fossil fuels and increasing plastics manufacture. The two principal factors responsible for this pivot are decreasing global demand for carbon-based fuels due to increases in 'green' energy, and massive expansion of oil and gas production due to fracking.Plastic manufacture is energy-intensive and contributes significantly to climate change. At present, plastic production is responsible for an estimated 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than the contribution of Brazil. This fraction is projected to increase to 4.5% by 2060 if current trends continue unchecked.

Plastic Life Cycle

The plastic life cycle has three phases: production, use, and disposal. In production, carbon feedstocks-coal, gas, and oil-are transformed through energy-intensive, catalytic processes into a vast array of products. Plastic use occurs in every aspect of modern life and results in widespread human exposure to the chemicals contained in plastic. Single-use plastics constitute the largest portion of current use, followed by synthetic fibers and construction.Plastic disposal is highly inefficient, with recovery and recycling rates below 10% globally. The result is that an estimated 22 Mt of plastic waste enters the environment each year, much of it single-use plastic and are added to the more than 6 gigatons of plastic waste that have accumulated since 1950. Strategies for disposal of plastic waste include controlled and uncontrolled landfilling, open burning, thermal conversion, and export. Vast quantities of plastic waste are exported each year from high-income to low-income countries, where it accumulates in landfills, pollutes air and water, degrades vital ecosystems, befouls beaches and estuaries, and harms human health-environmental injustice on a global scale. Plastic-laden e-waste is particularly problematic.

Environmental Findings

Plastics and plastic-associated chemicals are responsible for widespread pollution. They contaminate aquatic (marine and freshwater), terrestrial, and atmospheric environments globally. The ocean is the ultimate destination for much plastic, and plastics are found throughout the ocean, including coastal regions, the sea surface, the deep sea, and polar sea ice. Many plastics appear to resist breakdown in the ocean and could persist in the global environment for decades. Macro- and micro-plastic particles have been identified in hundreds of marine species in all major taxa, including species consumed by humans. Trophic transfer of microplastic particles and the chemicals within them has been demonstrated. Although microplastic particles themselves (>10 µm) appear not to undergo biomagnification, hydrophobic plastic-associated chemicals bioaccumulate in marine animals and biomagnify in marine food webs. The amounts and fates of smaller microplastic and nanoplastic particles (MNPs <10 µm) in aquatic environments are poorly understood, but the potential for harm is worrying given their mobility in biological systems. Adverse environmental impacts of plastic pollution occur at multiple levels from molecular and biochemical to population and ecosystem. MNP contamination of seafood results in direct, though not well quantified, human exposure to plastics and plastic-associated chemicals. Marine plastic pollution endangers the ocean ecosystems upon which all humanity depends for food, oxygen, livelihood, and well-being.

Human Health Findings

Coal miners, oil workers and gas field workers who extract fossil carbon feedstocks for plastic production suffer increased mortality from traumatic injury, coal workers' pneumoconiosis, silicosis, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. Plastic production workers are at increased risk of leukemia, lymphoma, hepatic angiosarcoma, brain cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma, neurotoxic injury, and decreased fertility. Workers producing plastic textiles die of bladder cancer, lung cancer, mesothelioma, and interstitial lung disease at increased rates. Plastic recycling workers have increased rates of cardiovascular disease, toxic metal poisoning, neuropathy, and lung cancer. Residents of "fenceline" communities adjacent to plastic production and waste disposal sites experience increased risks of premature birth, low birth weight, asthma, childhood leukemia, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer.During use and also in disposal, plastics release toxic chemicals including additives and residual monomers into the environment and into people. National biomonitoring surveys in the USA document population-wide exposures to these chemicals. Plastic additives disrupt endocrine function and increase risk for premature births, neurodevelopmental disorders, male reproductive birth defects, infertility, obesity, cardiovascular disease, renal disease, and cancers. Chemical-laden MNPs formed through the environmental degradation of plastic waste can enter living organisms, including humans. Emerging, albeit still incomplete evidence indicates that MNPs may cause toxicity due to their physical and toxicological effects as well as by acting as vectors that transport toxic chemicals and bacterial pathogens into tissues and cells.Infants in the womb and young children are two populations at particularly high risk of plastic-related health effects. Because of the exquisite sensitivity of early development to hazardous chemicals and children's unique patterns of exposure, plastic-associated exposures are linked to increased risks of prematurity, stillbirth, low birth weight, birth defects of the reproductive organs, neurodevelopmental impairment, impaired lung growth, and childhood cancer. Early-life exposures to plastic-associated chemicals also increase the risk of multiple non-communicable diseases later in life.

Economic Findings

Plastic's harms to human health result in significant economic costs. We estimate that in 2015 the health-related costs of plastic production exceeded $250 billion (2015 Int$) globally, and that in the USA alone the health costs of disease and disability caused by the plastic-associated chemicals PBDE, BPA and DEHP exceeded $920 billion (2015 Int$). Plastic production results in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions equivalent to 1.96 gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2e) annually. Using the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) social cost of carbon metric, we estimate the annual costs of these GHG emissions to be $341 billion (2015 Int$).These costs, large as they are, almost certainly underestimate the full economic losses resulting from plastics' negative impacts on human health and the global environment. All of plastics' economic costs-and also its social costs-are externalized by the petrochemical and plastic manufacturing industry and are borne by citizens, taxpayers, and governments in countries around the world without compensation.

Social Justice Findings

The adverse effects of plastics and plastic pollution on human health, the economy and the environment are not evenly distributed. They disproportionately affect poor, disempowered, and marginalized populations such as workers, racial and ethnic minorities, "fenceline" communities, Indigenous groups, women, and children, all of whom had little to do with creating the current plastics crisis and lack the political influence or the resources to address it. Plastics' harmful impacts across its life cycle are most keenly felt in the Global South, in small island states, and in disenfranchised areas in the Global North. Social and environmental justice (SEJ) principles require reversal of these inequitable burdens to ensure that no group bears a disproportionate share of plastics' negative impacts and that those who benefit economically from plastic bear their fair share of its currently externalized costs.

Conclusions

It is now clear that current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible for significant harms to human health, the environment, and the economy as well as for deep societal injustices.The main driver of these worsening harms is an almost exponential and still accelerating increase in global plastic production. Plastics' harms are further magnified by low rates of recovery and recycling and by the long persistence of plastic waste in the environment.The thousands of chemicals in plastics-monomers, additives, processing agents, and non-intentionally added substances-include amongst their number known human carcinogens, endocrine disruptors, neurotoxicants, and persistent organic pollutants. These chemicals are responsible for many of plastics' known harms to human and planetary health. The chemicals leach out of plastics, enter the environment, cause pollution, and result in human exposure and disease. All efforts to reduce plastics' hazards must address the hazards of plastic-associated chemicals.

Recommendations

To protect human and planetary health, especially the health of vulnerable and at-risk populations, and put the world on track to end plastic pollution by 2040, this Commission supports urgent adoption by the world's nations of a strong and comprehensive Global Plastics Treaty in accord with the mandate set forth in the March 2022 resolution of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).International measures such as a Global Plastics Treaty are needed to curb plastic production and pollution, because the harms to human health and the environment caused by plastics, plastic-associated chemicals and plastic waste transcend national boundaries, are planetary in their scale, and have disproportionate impacts on the health and well-being of people in the world's poorest nations. Effective implementation of the Global Plastics Treaty will require that international action be coordinated and complemented by interventions at the national, regional, and local levels.This Commission urges that a cap on global plastic production with targets, timetables, and national contributions be a central provision of the Global Plastics Treaty. We recommend inclusion of the following additional provisions:The Treaty needs to extend beyond microplastics and marine litter to include all of the many thousands of chemicals incorporated into plastics.The Treaty needs to include a provision banning or severely restricting manufacture and use of unnecessary, avoidable, and problematic plastic items, especially single-use items such as manufactured plastic microbeads.The Treaty needs to include requirements on extended producer responsibility (EPR) that make fossil carbon producers, plastic producers, and the manufacturers of plastic products legally and financially responsible for the safety and end-of-life management of all the materials they produce and sell.The Treaty needs to mandate reductions in the chemical complexity of plastic products; health-protective standards for plastics and plastic additives; a requirement for use of sustainable non-toxic materials; full disclosure of all components; and traceability of components. International cooperation will be essential to implementing and enforcing these standards.The Treaty needs to include SEJ remedies at each stage of the plastic life cycle designed to fill gaps in community knowledge and advance both distributional and procedural equity.This Commission encourages inclusion in the Global Plastic Treaty of a provision calling for exploration of listing at least some plastic polymers as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under the Stockholm Convention.This Commission encourages a strong interface between the Global Plastics Treaty and the Basel and London Conventions to enhance management of hazardous plastic waste and slow current massive exports of plastic waste into the world's least-developed countries.This Commission recommends the creation of a Permanent Science Policy Advisory Body to guide the Treaty's implementation. The main priorities of this Body would be to guide Member States and other stakeholders in evaluating which solutions are most effective in reducing plastic consumption, enhancing plastic waste recovery and recycling, and curbing the generation of plastic waste. This Body could also assess trade-offs among these solutions and evaluate safer alternatives to current plastics. It could monitor the transnational export of plastic waste. It could coordinate robust oceanic-, land-, and air-based MNP monitoring programs.This Commission recommends urgent investment by national governments in research into solutions to the global plastic crisis. This research will need to determine which solutions are most effective and cost-effective in the context of particular countries and assess the risks and benefits of proposed solutions. Oceanographic and environmental research is needed to better measure concentrations and impacts of plastics <10 µm and understand their distribution and fate in the global environment. Biomedical research is needed to elucidate the human health impacts of plastics, especially MNPs.

Summary

This Commission finds that plastics are both a boon to humanity and a stealth threat to human and planetary health. Plastics convey enormous benefits, but current linear patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal that pay little attention to sustainable design or safe materials and a near absence of recovery, reuse, and recycling are responsible for grave harms to health, widespread environmental damage, great economic costs, and deep societal injustices. These harms are rapidly worsening.While there remain gaps in knowledge about plastics' harms and uncertainties about their full magnitude, the evidence available today demonstrates unequivocally that these impacts are great and that they will increase in severity in the absence of urgent and effective intervention at global scale. Manufacture and use of essential plastics may continue. However, reckless increases in plastic production, and especially increases in the manufacture of an ever-increasing array of unnecessary single-use plastic products, need to be curbed.Global intervention against the plastic crisis is needed now because the costs of failure to act will be immense.

We need to plan streamlined environmental impact assessment for the future X-Press Pearl disasters

The X-Press Pearl disaster illustrates the urgent needs for streamlined environmental impact assessment to inform decision making. The environmental contamination caused by the disaster is complex, and the biological impact of different environmental stressors, and at different biological scales, needs to be determined. Traditional methods for analyzing complex environmental stressors are often inefficient and do not reflect the biological impact of pollution. The combination of chemical stressors and biological impacts is the key to environmental impact assessment based on integrated monitoring. Whole-cell bioreporters are tools for rapid, efficient and quantitative detection of the bioavailability, stressor effects, and toxicity of pollutants, i.e., spanning a wide range of applications. Here we propose the view that using whole-cell bioreporter technology to streamline short-term environmental impact assessment for maritime disasters such as the X-Press Pearl is more fit-for-purpose/practical than other approaches in use.