Plastic additives: an overlooked risk for our urban drinking water?

With Roxana Suehring, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry & Biology

October 7, 2021, 11 AM to 11:30 AM, followed by Q&A

It is well established that global plastic pollution is a reason for concern. Plastic items and tiny microplastics have been found virtually everywhere on the planet and it has been estimated that at the rate of the current pollution, there will be more plastic (by weight) in the ocean than fish by 2050. 

A plastic pollution issue that has received less media attention is the potential risk from chemical additives that are used as functional additives in plastic products or during the production process. Very much like plastic pieces themselves, a range of these additives has been found in environments across the globe – with potential environmental and human health impacts ranging from endocrine disruption to cancer. Urban areas are at particular risk of contamination with these plastic additives, due to the proximity to production sites and the high use of plastic items.

While there are regulatory systems in place to control the emissions and subsequent impacts of many hydrophobic plastic additives, there is a lack of regulatory safeguard against potential impacts from plastic additives that are persistent, mobile in water, and toxic (PMT-plastic additives).

In her research, Dr. Roxana Suehring focuses on these PMT-plastic additives in urban areas, their fate and behaviour in Canadian water and which ones are priorities from an environmental risk point of view.