top of page
Source:
Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research
Author(s):
Tae Ohgaki, Hideshige Takada, Ryu Yoshida, Kaoruko Mizukawa , Bee Geok Yeo, Mona Alidoust, Natsuki Hirai, Rei Yamashita, Takashi Tokumaru, Izumi Watanabe, Siaw Onwona-agyeman, Patricia Gardiner, Marcus Eriksen, Jay F. Kelly, Carlos J. RodrÃguez-sierra, Laurent Colasse, Juan Baztan, Fabiano Prado Barretto, Gabriel Mendes Izar, Denis Abessa, Mohamad Pauzi Zakaria, Charita S. Kwan, Mahua Saha, Peter G. Ryan, Steven Weerts, John Ofosu-anim, Edward Benjamin Sabi, Lailah Gifty Akita, Heidi Tait, Cecilia Eriksson, Harry Burton
Geography:
Global
Type:
Primary Data
Purpose of Measurement:
Understanding the Problem
Impact theme(s):
Oceans
This study focused on measuring Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in plastic resin pellets collected from 65 beaches across 27 countries worldwide. PBDEs were detected at 49 locations, with the USA and neighbouring countries categorized as having extreme PBDEs concentration, followed by western Europe and Japan categorized under high PBDEs concentration. Most Asian and African countries were under the slight PBDE concentration category. Notably, extreme or high pollution levels were also observed in countries with no history of PBDE production, such as Ghana, the Philippines and Hong Kong. Scrapped electrical and electronic waste might explain these anomalies.
bottom of page