FUTURE BRIEF: Nanoplastics: state of knowledge and environmental and human health impacts – Issue 27

Plastics are highly versatile and are ubiquitous in society, fulfilling a wide array of valuable functions in our economy and daily lives. Their adaptability has led to them being used in consumer products such as cosmetics, cooking utensils and food packaging, among others, as well as in medical devices and construction.

While there has been a strong push to ban single-use plastics and develop plastic-free and recyclable packaging and products in recent years, notably as part of the EU’s Plastics Strategy and Circular Economy Action Plan, plastic disposal remains a key threat to our natural environment, and the material is accumulating in our soil and seas in unprecedented amounts. It has been suggested that an extra 33 billion tonnes of plastic will be added to the planet by 2050 (Galloway, 2015) and some have suggested the current era may even be referred to as the ‘Plasticene’ (Reed, 2015).

In the environment, plastic breaks down to form microplastics and, at even smaller scales, nanoplastics. Research has focused on microplastics rather than nanoplastics – therefore, the situation on nanoplastics’ impact on the environment and human health is unclear. Despite this, nanoplastics research is a very fast-moving area. New techniques and methods currently in development to detect, identify and analyse nanoplastics and their impacts, in the environment and in organisms.

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What are Nanoplastics?