Residual Monomer Content Affects the Interpretation of Plastic Degradation

Abstract

Plastic degradation rates in the marine environment are essential to understand. This study demonstrates that in plastic-microbial interaction experiments, residual monomeric and oligomeric content of PA6 significantly influences the development of dissolved organic carbon. While it is well recognized that additives in plastics should be considered during the inception of plastic-exposure experiments, residual monomers have yet to be prominently considered in the same light. As such, in degradation studies where residual contents of monomers and/or oligomers are not considered, degradation of synthetic polymers could be significantly overestimated. The substantial conversion of these monomeric and oligomeric leachates also has implications for plastic-biofilm development studies and microplastic-biota-based ingestion experiments.