WEBVTT

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Please note that microplastics have been a hot topic since we released the guidance in 2023.

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While ITRC training speaks to the content of the guidance document, we do have a couple updates on regulations in today's training.

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My name is Taylor Voeckel, and I will be your moderator for today's training.

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So I'm now going to turn this over to Valerie Hanley from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control.

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One of the former team leaders for the microplastics team to get us started with the training today.

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Thank you so much, Taylor, and welcome everybody to today's training. We've got a lot of really good information to share with you.

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Um, so let's go ahead and get started. Can we go to the next slide, please, Taylor?

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These are our wonderful trainers that'll be walking you through this material. Everybody was part of our microplastics team and helped develop this training, um, and are very well versed in being able to answer your questions, and so, um.

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Let's, uh, move forward to see what topics we're going to cover today.

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So this is a roadmap as to the topics that we're going to cover. As Taylor mentioned, there will be two Q&A sessions, one about halfway through, and then one at the end. You will use that Q&A pod to ask.

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questions, and then we can answer them during those live sessions.

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Um, as Taylor mentioned, the chat. is to be used, um, for our interactive case study that we will be… Alex will be, um, introducing a little bit later.

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Um, to get us started on that, um, I'm gonna ask everybody to go ahead and use that chat.

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and tell me one thing that you feel you know about microplastics.

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We'll give you about 20 seconds to do that.

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Just to kind of get the information flowing and see where everybody.

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is at. They are everywhere, they are ubiquitous, absolutely.

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difficult to define. Excellent, we'll talk about all those different definitions.

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It's on Mount Everest, they are in our brains… Um, less than 5 micrometers, excellent.

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synthetic fibers are a big contributor. Yep, so a lot of these things, you know, I'll say we've been offering this training for a couple of years now.

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and you… I can tell through this chat function, um, that the word about microplastics has gotten out a lot more than it was when we were first doing this.

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I feel like there's a lot more, um, knowledge out there based off of your guys' comments, so, um, that's good to know, and hopefully we will, uh, teach you some more stuff today.

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Alright, next slide, Taylor. So, um, before I hand it off and we get into the introduction, I just wanted to say that.

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Overall, our goal with this document, um, was to provide an understanding of microplastics and the state of the applied science.

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So that you don't have to go to the scientific literature yourself. Um, so kind of like a big review of what is currently out there, what we know. Um, as Taylor mentioned, you know, we know that this is a rapidly expanding field, an emerging field.

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And so there's lots of changes, so we will discuss some of those changes today, but mostly we'll be focused on the guidance document that we completed in 2022, I believe.

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All right, next slide. All right, and with that, I'm going to hand it over to, uh, Dichlayerbici, uh, from DTSC, and she is going to go through the rest of our, uh, topics today in our introduction. Thanks so much.

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Thank you, Valerie. Hello, everyone. This is Disha Adamje. I'm with the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, and… In today's training, we will cover introduction to microplastics and their sources.

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Environmental distribution, fate, and transport of microplastics. We will also talk about sampling and analysis techniques of microplastics from various media.

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We also, uh… We'll cover human health and ecological effects of microplastics.

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As well as a section on the current regulations compiled on microplastics, and then we will finish out with mitigation abatement techniques on microplastics.

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And with that, I'm gonna take you to go back in time and start talking about how the plastic was invented, and how that led to.

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the plastic pollution problem today. The very first synthetic plastic was invented in early 1900s.

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And then from 1930s to 1945, there was an innovation of various plastics.

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But the biggest growth in the plastic industry didn't occur until 1950s, and in this part here, you can see the plastic waste.

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had a big uptick, um, starting from 1950s, which is the same time frame, uh, with the growth of the plastic industry.

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And if we don't do anything about the plastic pollution, we will continue to see plastic waste accumulating in the environment, which is shown by the black dotted line on this plot here.

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And to tackle this problem from 1970s and beyond, there has been an innovation of bio-based and biodegradable plastics.

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But as we will talk about later in the training, these weren't a very good solution in terms of tackling the plastic pollution.

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And, uh, this bar chart shows in 2010. There has been a plastic production of 270 million tons.

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Uh, every year globally. And within that same time frame, uh, there was 275 million tons of plastic has been globally accumulating every year.

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Notice the plastic waste amount is actually higher than the production. That's because once you make the plastic, it starts to accumulate as waste in the environment.

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And over 99 million swan of that plastic ended up in… as coastal.

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Plastic waste, with 31 million mismanaged, which puts about 8 million tons of plastic.

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into the oceans every year. Tens and 100,000 tons of plastic ends up in surface waters.

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Uh, when we look at 2020, a decade later, the data is not shown here. The plastic production almost doubled in size, which one might expect.

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the plastic waste to significantly continue to increase in the environment.

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And today's training topic is microplastics. And as a lot of you are aware, we are concerned about microplastics because they're everywhere. They are widespread in the environment, they are found in drinking water.

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in the ARV breed, they're in food and beverages that humans consume, they are found in remote locations.

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And they can accumulate and persist long time in the environment.

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They can also contain harmful contaminants and additives. And they can move long distances.

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through various environmental media, and carry those contaminants along with them.

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because of their small size, they can also be consumed by humans and other organisms and may cause adverse health impacts to humans and other organisms that are exposed to microplastics.

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And, uh, there is no universally accepted definition of microplastics, but there's a general consensus that microplastics are plastic particles less than 5 millimeter in size.

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And ITRC team looked through all the existing definitions on microplastics, and in our guidance document.

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We have defined microplastics as particles that are greater than 1 nanometer.

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And less than 5 millimeters in their longest dimension.

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that are made of solid polymeric materials to which chemical additives or other substances may have been added.

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Polymers that are derived in nature that haven't been chemically modified other than hydrolysis are excluded from this definition.

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And for context, hydrolysis is a reaction which breaks down polymers into their.

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Um, building blocks, which are called monomers, using water.

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And just as a side note, we will use a lot of.

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terminology during the training, so you can find the definitions of those terms in the appendix section of our guidance document.

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Uh, going back to the, uh, size range of microplastics, in our guidance document, we have defined the microplastic size ranging anywhere between from 1 nanometer up to 5 millimeters.

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This figure is also available in the Chapter 1 of our guidance document.

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To give you a context, the smallest microplastic can be 1 nanometer, which is.

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even smaller than a strand of a DNA. Dna is 2.5 nanometers.

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And then the largest microplastics can be up to 5 less than 5 millimeters in size.

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Uh, which is about the size of a drinking straw.

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And in addition to size, microplastics also come in additional physical chemical properties. They can be made of different polymers.

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They can also have other additives, such as flame retardants. They can also come from different sources, which we will talk about that in more detail, uh, shortly.

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They can come in different shapes, colors. They can also attract… different toxicants from the environment, such as heavy metals.

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And this is another figure in our guidance document, which shows different sources and product types.

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different industries that could be sources of microplastics. And typically, microplastics are categorized either primary or secondary.

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And primary microplastics are the ones that are intentionally manufactured.

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as microplastics to be used in specific products or applications.

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Some examples of primary microplastics include microbeads in personal care products.

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or pre-production pellets, these are also known as noodles that are used in.

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plastic… production of various plastic products. This is a case study which shows citizens picking up nerdos from the Gulf of Mexico, from the beach due to a spill.

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And this type of data can play a significant role to drive litigation and ultimately impact policy. And in order for an example of primary microplastic pollution in the environment.

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And you can't find the details of this case study in the appendix of our guidance documents as well.

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And microplastics can also be secondary, so these are the type of microplastics that originate from the breakdown of larger plastics.

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into smaller fragments, into smaller pieces over time, due to exposure to sunlight, water erosion, uh, wind, or microorganisms.

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And some examples include wear and tear of car tires.

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fragmentation of consumers' products, such as plastic water bottles or cigarette tacoers.

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As well as microfibers hedging from synthetic textiles. And this is another case study which shows, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in the disposable of personal protective equipment, such as face masks.

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and gloves, as well as the takeout food chainers ended up as waste in the environment.

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Eventually, these plastic items going to break down into smaller pieces, which would be an example of secondary microplastic pollution in the environment.

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And again, you can find the details of this case study in our appendix of our guidance documents as well.

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As we mentioned, microplastics can also come in different shapes, they can come in, uh, as fragments, beef, pellets, lemons, fibers, and so on.

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And you can see in this picture, there have various, uh, colors and shapes.

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And there are some studies showing, depending on the shape of the microplastics that are made from the same polymer type and same size.

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The irregular shapes, such as fragments. are going to have a higher surface area to volume ratio compared to regular shapes, such as beads, which then make those irregular microplastics to have a higher chemical absorption capacity, so then that can impact their toxicity.

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the endpoints. And another thing to keep in mind, there are organisms.

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Confused microplastics with food in the environment depending on their size, shape, and color.

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And they selectively feed on those microplastics. Microplastics can also absorb harmful chemicals from the environment, such as heavy metals.

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Which has led our codmium. They can also absorb persistent organic.

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Pollutants, also known as POPS. Some examples of pubs include PCBs, PFAS, DDT, and others.

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And there are several factors that can increase the chemical absorption capacity of microplastics. Microplastics are hydrophobic, they don't like water, and they will.

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um… attract chemical contaminants from wilder bodies onto themselves, and they can move those as they move throughout the environment.

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And because of their small size, they have a high surface area to volume ratio, which increases their chemical absorption capacity.

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And as we just mentioned, rougher shapes and weather-than-age particles as well, going to have higher surface area to volume ratio compared to.

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Um, regular shapes and virgin particles, which will increase their chemical absorption capacity.

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Polymer type is also another factor. Law of density and rubbery plastics, such as polyethylene or polypropylene.

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Are going to have a higher chemical absorption capacity compared to high density or glossy plastics.

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Such as pets or PVC. Microplastics can also act as vectors.

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Uh, they can allow formation of biofilms, which then makes them act as vectors for carrying bacterial pathogens.

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They can also spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria. They can move long distances to transport chemical contaminants throughout the environment, therefore they can be a source of contaminants in the aquatic environments.

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sediments and biota. However, there's a debate between the researchers on the vector impacts of microplastics, so there are further studies needed to understand the vector effects of microplastics.

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And as we look at the publications coming in, uh, every year on the toxicity studies of microplastics in the bar chart here.

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Especially after, uh, 2015. There has been an increase in both human health.

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and ecological toxicity studies of microplastics. The human health is shown in the orange bars, and ecological studies shown with the gray bars here.

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So this is definitely a rapidly evolving state of science for microplastics, and microplastics are emerging contaminants of concern.

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They do contribute to the plastic pollution, which is already a problem.

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Because of their small size. They can be consumed by humans and other organisms.

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Which can impact, um… Which can cause, uh, adverse health impacts that are exposed to microplastics.

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As we mentioned, microplastics have various physical chemical properties, which also makes them very challenging.

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Uh, in terms of understanding their toxicity endpoints. And, uh, with that, that concludes our introduction section today, and now I'm going to turn it over to Alex McDonald to introduce an interactive case study.

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Um, so this will be used throughout our training today, and thank you for your attention, Alex. Please take it over when you get a chance. Thank you.

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Thank you, G Suite. Um, that's really good information. Hope you guys are listening.

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Um, I'm here to introduce a generic case study.

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And with this case study, we're going to be giving… coming back to it several times during our training.

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And this is good. The goal of that is to help reinforce the things you've been learning all along.

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So let me get over to that. case study.

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Okay, so what you see here, look at the picture on the right-hand, the left-hand side of the screen.

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Um, think of this as something like San Francisco Bay, or Chesapeake Bay, Seattle, Tacoma area as examples.

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And on this, we show various different. Man activities and the way, and things that they do, such as farming, we have industrial processes, you see a wastewater treatment plant.

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Um, you see a residential community, you see fishing.

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Uh, there's a landfill, and then we also show driving, and.

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There's a beach scene down there, and that's… the beach scene is basically to.

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present man's outdoor activities. So, what we're gonna do…

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is we're going to have you identify the microplastic sources that you see in this figure.

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Just like you did in the very beginning, you're going to use the chat function.

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And, you know, I want you to put it… and you have 30 seconds to do so.

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So you guys can commence and put in what, what… microplastic sources you see in that figure is, okay.

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Go ahead. Tires, very good. Industry… Fishing nets, umbrellas?

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Wastewater plant that discharges, personal care products. effluent… Home waste, fishing nets.

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Looks like you guys are getting most of them here. Stormwater, very good.

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Okay, you got 5 more seconds? Everywhere there are humans, lures and fishing line, agriculture, very good. Okay, you can stop putting in your answers.

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And let's take a look. What we came up with… So, people got… people got the roadway, got the tires, but the actual roadway itself.

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can be a source of microplastics. Um, some… some states and, like, the island of Guam, they.

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they actually put ground-up plastic bottles into their micro… into their asphalt mix, which generates a much longer lifespan.

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of the, uh, the pavement itself. And also, the paint on the pavement.

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Paint can be a good source of microplastics. Um, wastewater treatment plant is the source, but it's actually just passing along what's coming to it.

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Biosolids on the farm, don't remember seeing that one.

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housing, the residential community, we got that. The factory.

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The fishing boat… landfill, car tires, and then beach use. Beach use is man's activities. People taking their Frito.

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Doritos bags, and it's dropping on the ground, or something like that.

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So you guys did a great job on looking at all this sort of thing.

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Um, so I'm gonna actually put in… just put in the swimsuit. Very good, most swimsuits are not made of.

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cotton anymore, wool anymore, like they used to be.

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Okay, so next… next we're gonna… I'm gonna turn you over now to, um, Judd Mahan.

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of TRC, I mean, Tetra Tech. And he's gonna look through environmental distribution, fate, and transport.

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Thanks, Alex. Yes, as Alex said, I'm a geologist with the consulting firm Tetra Tech.

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We're going to talk now about the, uh, the distribution of fate and transport of microplastics.

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As, um, as Dichlet and, uh, and Valerie earlier were mentioning.

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Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment now. I'm trying to make sure I've got control of the slides there. Yeah, I think I'm good.

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Um, but… so even though they're ubiquitous, there are… there is plenty to learn about the distribution, the fate, and transport.

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This, um, uh, illustration, it's the conceptual site model for microplastics that's used in the online guidance document.

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on the website, it's an interactive figure that's got pop-ups that provide information about various.

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sources and mechanisms of microplastic transport. So for this set of slides, we're going to use the CSM as we talk through some examples.

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And, uh, you can also use the interactive CSM on the website to navigate through the online document.

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Alright, so here we have, uh, some examples of point sources of microplastics, uh, so we're talking about here discrete conveyances, uh, stormwater or wastewater, uh, outfalls.

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can be other things, smokestacks, for instance. Also, you can even have marine point sources, uh, where ocean-glowing vessels, uh, have materials that are, uh, lost or discharged or discarded overboard.

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Now, non-point sources. Due to that ubiquitous nature of microplastics, these are especially problematic, and so.

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This is where, you know, generally you have broad areas or many sources at once that are distributing microplastics into the environment.

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Beaches are an example where litter might be spread along a beach, and then it washes, or it could be transported by wind into other areas.

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Residential neighborhoods, uh, can be point sources as household products are used and discarded.

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Agricultural, uh, lands, uh, also, um. microplastics can originate from things like fertilizer pellets, wastewater treatment plant biosolids that are used as soil amendments.

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Um, even various other gardening materials, plastic sheeting, containers.

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Uh, etc. And then, roadways.

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trying to get that to pop up there. Roadway's also non-point sources where tires are worn down.

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and generate tire wear particles. Now, about the tarware particles, uh, these are generated from the friction, uh, uh.

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between tires and road surface, the particles are then deposited nearby in surface waters or soil.

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And so, 6PPD is an anti-ozona. It's incorporated into the tires.

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And 6PD quinone is a byproduct, which has been linked to coho salmon mortality.

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Research here is ongoing to help understand my coho salmon are as susceptible as they are to the toxic effects of 6PD.

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And also to understand whether other aquatic organisms might be affected and to what degree.

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There's a lot more information on this case study in the guidance document.

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Now, um… How are macroplastics generated? This has been touched on a little bit so far. We just mentioned tire wear, for instance.

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Uh, so microplastics, they're generated in a variety of ways, and both abiotic and biotic processes are involved.

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So, chemical, physical, biological reactions. Now, the size distribution is a really important factor in the fate and transport with processes like biofouling, aggregation.

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time of residence. All of this affects the fate and transport, and then hence the distribution.

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Photodegradation, uh, that's really important as an initial process at the Earth's surface.

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Uh, but biodegradation becomes important also. Uh, as, uh, as microplastics are buried, uh, or, or.

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move into the subsurface or into the, uh, into the deeper ocean, for instance.

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Now, streams and rivers play an important role with microplastics distribution.

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Physical properties are going to determine how the particles are transported, whether that's more quickly, more slowly.

00:24:54.000 --> 00:25:03.000
heavier particles are more likely to be deposited in sinks, such as lakes and other areas where there's decreased flow velocity.

00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:19.000
Now, two-way transport is a significant factor to keep in mind. Microplastics can move from land to water to air, and potentially cycle back through these media.

00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:31.000
Now, freshwater surface water systems, uh, receive microplastics from a variety of sources, so that's including atmospheric deposition, groundwater infiltration.

00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:47.000
stormwater discharges, wastewater. Rivers, uh, these are important transport corridors and move microplastics from upland areas, uh, to bays to estuaries, which are home to many organisms that are food sources. Mussels, crustaceans.

00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:57.000
Uh, other deposit feeders can ingest microplastics. One of the concerns that arises here is that microplastics can also alter things like nutrient cycling.

00:25:57.000 --> 00:26:04.000
And could contribute to things like an increase in ammonium, which is associated with red tides.

00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:11.000
Now, wastewater treatment plants, industrial and municipal, are some of the primary sources contributing.

00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:23.000
microplastics to surface waters. Now, um, mycoplastics from wastewater, uh, they're sourced from both industrial.

00:26:23.000 --> 00:26:29.000
and domestic products. Now, as we all know, products, there's a great variety out there.

00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:34.000
Microplastics are generated both during the manufacture as well as the use of products.

00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:42.000
treatment plant processes. They have been shown to successfully, to be able to successfully remove microplastics.

00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:51.000
However, there's a lack of standard treatments and. analysis methods, and this can limit the efficiency of the microplastics removal.

00:26:51.000 --> 00:27:03.000
Many treatment plant, uh, process, uh. Plants process biosolids, uh, for land application, and so that can lead to a re-release of plastics to the environment.

00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:12.000
Studies are showing that microplastics that are sourced from wastewater treatment plants, those often occur as fibers, and they tend to be of a relatively smaller size range.

00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:18.000
generally less than half of a millimeter.

00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:31.000
Now, groundwater, uh, this can be a surprise, uh, but the limited data that's available does show that microplastics occur in groundwater, although maybe at a lower prevalence than in other.

00:27:31.000 --> 00:27:41.000
other media. Most environmental monitoring wells are constructed of plastic, so… Right off the bat, we've got an obstacle to sampling and analysis.

00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:46.000
Again, the movement is affected by particle size and density.

00:27:46.000 --> 00:27:59.000
Other factors are also important, so pH, salinity. And as with so many environmental contaminants, preferential pathways can add… can aid transport.

00:27:59.000 --> 00:28:16.000
Some studies have shown that microplastics are occurring in groundwater in locations such as Illinois, in the United States, Germany, South Africa, but as research continues, we would expect to have more geographic locations that are reporting microplastics.

00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:27.000
And in groundwater. Now, for the oceans, uh, plastic pollution in the oceans has certainly got a lot of tension in the public media over the years.

00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:34.000
And there's a lot of information out there now available about this. This slide, it just touches on some of the concepts that are involved.

00:28:34.000 --> 00:28:42.000
So, microplastics are entering the oceans by multiple routes. We mentioned rivers, outfalls.

00:28:42.000 --> 00:28:48.000
the atmosphere, they tend to move at the ocean surface towards slower-moving oceanic gyres.

00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:53.000
denser plastics are going to tend to sink, they're reported from all depths.

00:28:53.000 --> 00:29:00.000
Uh, floating debris. It's moved in the oceans by various mechanisms. Some of these ocean currents, convergence zones.

00:29:00.000 --> 00:29:05.000
Uh, as well as Stokes Drift, which has to do with transport by wave action.

00:29:05.000 --> 00:29:12.000
And Langmar circulation, which has to do with the wind interacting with the ocean surface.

00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:20.000
As we mentioned with fluvial environments, vertical transport factors can include degradation.

00:29:20.000 --> 00:29:30.000
aggregation, biofouling, and then also you have the varying buoyancy of different plastic materials. All of these are factors.

00:29:30.000 --> 00:29:38.000
Now, soils are likely to be long-term sinks for microplastics, since most plastic is used on land.

00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:47.000
Uh, we see higher abundances, uh, near roads and areas where just, you know, there's a lot of plastics that are being used or processed.

00:29:47.000 --> 00:29:53.000
That can include waste management facilities, the agricultural areas that I mentioned.

00:29:53.000 --> 00:30:03.000
home gardens, uh, even. Plastics have the potential to alter soil properties, and so they can have effects on the bulk density.

00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:16.000
The water retention capacity of soil. Research is showing here that plastic fibers can have distinctly negative effects compared to other forms of plastic.

00:30:16.000 --> 00:30:22.000
Now, as microplastics settle from the water column, they combine with sediments.

00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:33.000
happens with marine and freshwater flowing, non-flowing water. As we've touched on, the denser plastics, they're going to tend to be… tend to sink and be deposited.

00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:40.000
Research indicates that sediments that have a higher total organic carbon content, they also tend to have more microplastics.

00:30:40.000 --> 00:30:46.000
Residence time in sediments can be really high, especially in low-flow conditions.

00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:56.000
And again, resuspension and redistribution, uh, are factors to be aware of.

00:30:56.000 --> 00:31:05.000
Now, the atmospheric occurrence of microplastics, microplastics in the air, um, like groundwater, this can be a little bit of a surprise.

00:31:05.000 --> 00:31:17.000
It's more common in urban and industrial settings. Deposition can then occur with precipitation events. It turns out that microplastics are an emerging component.

00:31:17.000 --> 00:31:22.000
of air pollution. And plastics can combine with other air pollutants.

00:31:22.000 --> 00:31:32.000
Deucelay mentioned, uh, some of those factors earlier. Transport here, it varies with atmospheric factors such as wind speed up and down drafts.

00:31:32.000 --> 00:31:48.000
Uh, no surprise, though, the atmospheric occurrence, it tends to be the smaller microplastic particle sizes, but here we're talking about all of the various different shapes.

00:31:48.000 --> 00:32:06.000
Now, urban litter, uh, larger plastic waste, uh, you know, it breaks down into microplastics. It turns out that the plastic portion of litter can really vary dramatically from place to place. A study in the San Francisco Bay Area showed that 2-15% of litter by volume.

00:32:06.000 --> 00:32:15.000
Uh, was plastic, whereas a study for the Mississippi River, uh, basin showed plastic making up to as much as 74% of litter.

00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.000
Storm events are going to play a big role.

00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:29.000
in the transport, a study in Los Angeles indicated that microplastics increased by seven-fold at the coast near Long Beach after a storm.

00:32:29.000 --> 00:32:37.000
And then similarly, a study at the Great Lakes showed that all forms of microplastics, from fragments to films, pellets.

00:32:37.000 --> 00:32:44.000
increased in concentrations as a result of precipitation events.

00:32:44.000 --> 00:32:58.000
Now, the occurrence of microplastics in living organisms is also getting a lot of attention. Some of you, you know, mentioned in the chat, you know, things like microplastic showing up in human blood.

00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.000
Um, you know, in various tissues in our bodies.

00:33:01.000 --> 00:33:15.000
Um, from plants to invertebrates, mammals, uh, this, uh, it spans all levels of the food web. Research clearly shows that microplastics are being ingested, uh.

00:33:15.000 --> 00:33:19.000
But more studies are needed to determine the effects.

00:33:19.000 --> 00:33:29.000
With plants, studies do show uptake by crops through roots with transport to shoots and fruits, such as tomatoes.

00:33:29.000 --> 00:33:38.000
Some organisms can be particularly vulnerable, so filter feeders, they're at risk due to that suspended feeding on particulate matter.

00:33:38.000 --> 00:33:48.000
and other marine life, such as fish and macroinvertiments, also ingesting microplastics.

00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:57.000
All right, so that's an overview of the distribution, the fate and transport. There's a lot more detail, as well as good references that are available in the guidance documents.

00:33:57.000 --> 00:34:02.000
I'm going to hand it back over to Alex now in the interactive case study.

00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:07.000
Thanks, Chad. Um, let's make sure that, uh, my slides are working.

00:34:07.000 --> 00:34:18.000
Okay, so, um… I hope you guys were paying attention to Judd there, because this time we're going to ask… I have two polls we're going to go through here.

00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:24.000
Um, the first is going to be. We're going to look at impacted media.

00:34:24.000 --> 00:34:27.000
So we looked at before, we saw what the sources were.

00:34:27.000 --> 00:34:35.000
Now we're going to identify what impacted media. Did those sources happen to influence?

00:34:35.000 --> 00:34:38.000
So, take a look at the slide here, got 30 seconds again.

00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:44.000
So, you can begin now and start putting those answers in the chat. What media do you see? Fish?

00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:49.000
Okay? Airwater, soil set, all that stuff, try to get them all.

00:34:49.000 --> 00:34:56.000
Groundwater, surface air, water, surface water, soil, crops, groundwater.

00:34:56.000 --> 00:35:02.000
Looks like we're getting almost all of them, everyone's getting source water. Human beings, good one.

00:35:02.000 --> 00:35:06.000
Sediment… Birds?

00:35:06.000 --> 00:35:13.000
Penthic organisms? Okay, just got 2 seconds here.

00:35:13.000 --> 00:35:16.000
Very good, beach sand. Alright, someone got the beach sand one, very good.

00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:20.000
Okay, let's see what the answer let's see what the answers we have.

00:35:20.000 --> 00:35:26.000
Ambient error, obviously Judd made that point very poor, uh, important announcement that.

00:35:26.000 --> 00:35:36.000
Ambient air is a big source of. Microplastics being blown around in the air. In fact, it's probably one of the biggest human exposures as to microplastics and ambient air.

00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:43.000
Um, subsurface and surface soils, when we said soils, we got that, most people got that one. Surface water, I think everyone got surface water.

00:35:43.000 --> 00:35:47.000
Groundwater got mentioned once or twice, beach sand, which I'm surprised because.

00:35:47.000 --> 00:35:50.000
A lot of people don't get the beach stand one, it's kind of.

00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:56.000
Um, kind of hidden there. Crops and produce, so the farming activities, you're putting the crops and plants.

00:35:56.000 --> 00:36:02.000
Very good job, very good job. So, we have one more for you to do. So, we've gone through now.

00:36:02.000 --> 00:36:09.000
Um, transport mechan… okay, we've gone through basically the sources, what impacted media is there.

00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:16.000
Now, we're going to say, how were those… how were those people… From the sources to the impacted media.

00:36:16.000 --> 00:36:20.000
How did it get there? So, the next slide we're going to show here.

00:36:20.000 --> 00:36:25.000
I want you to go through and look at them. Transport pathways. What transport pathways do you envision.

00:36:25.000 --> 00:36:31.000
Happening on the slide to get that microplastic. to those receptors.

00:36:31.000 --> 00:36:37.000
Very good, I started already, alright. Very good. Run off rivers, wind dispersion.

00:36:37.000 --> 00:36:43.000
Wastewater, river… Uh… atmospheric distribution, very good.

00:36:43.000 --> 00:36:48.000
Runoffs, rain. Air, convection, wind?

00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:53.000
precipitation, rain, uh, someone tried to quit all of them in at one time, very good.

00:36:53.000 --> 00:36:58.000
Run off roads, all right, very good. Direct disposal.

00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:02.000
All right, very good. We'll get to the answers here.

00:37:02.000 --> 00:37:10.000
So, what do you see? Urban runoff. Remember when someone got urban… so there's two types of runoff here. Urban runoff, which is occurring.

00:37:10.000 --> 00:37:15.000
During non-stormwater events, so urban runoff will transport stuff washing down.

00:37:15.000 --> 00:37:19.000
things down driveways and whatnot into the creek, very good. Rainfall.

00:37:19.000 --> 00:37:26.000
Rainfall's gonna move it down under the ground, where it's gonna be transported via surface water streams to the larger body of water.

00:37:26.000 --> 00:37:33.000
That's what stormwater discharge. air emissions from the factory, that's another transformation. You got it up into the air.

00:37:33.000 --> 00:37:38.000
When blown waste from the, say, examples, the landfill, it's going to have it coming out.

00:37:38.000 --> 00:37:43.000
Wastewater discharges, we got that one. Agricultural soil disturbance, so.

00:37:43.000 --> 00:37:53.000
If people recall that, hey. Land application of biosolids from this wastewater treatment plant over here onto this farmland.

00:37:53.000 --> 00:38:01.000
That can be a major source of microplastics. Um, quite a bit of the microplastics fall out within the biosolids that's collected by the wastewater treatment plant.

00:38:01.000 --> 00:38:05.000
And we use it on food crops, so erosion, wind erosion.

00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:11.000
Uh, water, surface water erosion from those fields was going to place it into the surface water.

00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:16.000
One we kind of didn't catch on here. I have an arrow, if you look over at the fishing vessel.

00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:19.000
There's an arrow coming off of it. Why is that?

00:38:19.000 --> 00:38:23.000
Almost all fishing nets are made of plastic nowadays, so abrasion.

00:38:23.000 --> 00:38:30.000
By taking this net in and out of the fishing vessel, plus if it drags along the bottom, which some do.

00:38:30.000 --> 00:38:35.000
That's gonna scrape off my plastic and microplastic into the environment.

00:38:35.000 --> 00:38:46.000
So that's it, that's one we haven't really. I don't think we… it got mentioned in our, uh, so far in our training, but another one to keep aware of.

00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:58.000
So, that wraps up our three of our 4 different, um… Uh, quizzes here, and I hope you find these interesting and get those little brain cells moving.

00:38:58.000 --> 00:39:07.000
Um, so next I'm going to turn this over to Ilya Enright from TRC, and she's going to discuss sampling and analysis.

00:39:07.000 --> 00:39:21.000
Thank you, Alex. So, here's just a summary of what we'll cover in this section. First, we'll talk about considerations for selecting appropriate methods for both sampling and analysis.

00:39:21.000 --> 00:39:26.000
We'll cover the ITRC tools that we had developed to help you choose appropriate methods.

00:39:26.000 --> 00:39:30.000
One is for sampling, and one is for analysis.

00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:41.000
We'll talk about standard and adopted methods. Available, and… the important step of minimizing sample contamination.

00:39:41.000 --> 00:39:47.000
So, we return once again to our conceptual site model, this time with sampling and analysis in mind.

00:39:47.000 --> 00:39:58.000
So once again, if you click on the various locations, you will get links to the various sections within the guidance document on the various media.

00:39:58.000 --> 00:40:12.000
And, oops. So, each of the, um… each of the media here has a subsection on both sample collection methods and sample preparation and analysis methods.

00:40:12.000 --> 00:40:20.000
So, before we… jump into the tools that we developed to help select specific methods for sample.

00:40:20.000 --> 00:40:32.000
Microplastic sample collection and analysis. We want to step back and think about what are your data quality objectives? And this is a really important consideration.

00:40:32.000 --> 00:40:40.000
Um, a number of the considerations are shown here. Things like sample media type, particle size.

00:40:40.000 --> 00:40:47.000
minimum detectable amounts that you're interested in, what kind of data you need, is it size?

00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:52.000
Polymer units, shape, etc. And then what equipment and cost do you have available?

00:40:52.000 --> 00:40:58.000
And this… the reason this is a really important step is because different methods can.

00:40:58.000 --> 00:41:07.000
are able to provide different data, and some have limitations. So, for example, certain sampling methods can only collect microplastics down to a certain size range.

00:41:07.000 --> 00:41:14.000
And certain analytical methods may. not be able to provide information on characteristics such as.

00:41:14.000 --> 00:41:22.000
polymer types or shapes, so those. Criteria are important to you, you want to make sure you utilize methods that.

00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:26.000
can provide that data. All right.

00:41:26.000 --> 00:41:48.000
So that brings us to our… Our first… Hmm… There we go. Our first tool, which is the… online sample collection matrix. Um, so it's an online matrix that is filterable, so you can filter by.

00:41:48.000 --> 00:41:55.000
Media, as shown here, and you can also filter by particle size range. And so, as you can see here.

00:41:55.000 --> 00:42:03.000
We collect or select wastewater and all size fractions, and once you select those, you can scroll down and see what.

00:42:03.000 --> 00:42:08.000
Methods are available. for those, um, inputs.

00:42:08.000 --> 00:42:17.000
And, um… The tool provides the best fit for these criteria, and you can also change the parameters to see how results would change.

00:42:17.000 --> 00:42:21.000
And the table also provides details like particle size range.

00:42:21.000 --> 00:42:27.000
Um, sample type and description, what equipment would be needed, advantages and disadvantages.

00:42:27.000 --> 00:42:32.000
And relative cost.

00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:38.000
So the methods shown in that online matrix tool are methods described in the literature.

00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:45.000
Um, but due to the evolving nature of our understanding of microplastics, there are very few standardized sampling methods.

00:42:45.000 --> 00:43:05.000
However, there are a few. For water matrices, these include an ASTM standard for a variety of water types, and a California water board's method specific for drinking water. Both of these methods use a similar concept of volumetric reduction, in which a large volume of water is run through a series of sieves.

00:43:05.000 --> 00:43:12.000
to provide a more representative sample than a smaller volume grab sample.

00:43:12.000 --> 00:43:17.000
And the first method here is different in… from the second, in that it.

00:43:17.000 --> 00:43:24.000
Um, the second option provides… er… outlines the use of inline sieve filtration, which.

00:43:24.000 --> 00:43:32.000
is intended to reduce the possibility of contamination from ambient air.

00:43:32.000 --> 00:43:44.000
Now, to select the appropriate analytical procedures to characterize your microplastic samples, we developed Table 3-1. This is just an excerpt of that table, it's not the complete table, so for.

00:43:44.000 --> 00:43:48.000
Uh, look at the complete table, go to the guidance document.

00:43:48.000 --> 00:43:57.000
Um, this table shown here, um. shows that, similar to the sampling matrix, there are a variety of methods.

00:43:57.000 --> 00:44:02.000
Um, and capabilities… Uh, that vary between the different methods.

00:44:02.000 --> 00:44:15.000
So, to help you decide which method is the most appropriate for your project, please take a look at this table and, um… consider all the inputs and outputs that you need for your project.

00:44:15.000 --> 00:44:19.000
And then, similar to… the sampling methods.

00:44:19.000 --> 00:44:28.000
There are very few methods, um, that are… adopted, but the state of California has adopted specifically.

00:44:28.000 --> 00:44:33.000
Um, two methods, FTIR and Raymond methods for drinking water samples.

00:44:33.000 --> 00:44:42.000
As shown here. So, um… As we heard from the previous presenters.

00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:46.000
plastics are used for innumerable products in our modern world.

00:44:46.000 --> 00:44:51.000
because of this, it is very important to both minimize and account for potential contamination.

00:44:51.000 --> 00:44:56.000
Of your samples throughout the process of both sampling and analysis.

00:44:56.000 --> 00:45:05.000
So at a high level, to minimize contamination, you should eliminate or limit plastic products used in these various processes as much as possible.

00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:16.000
And, um, inside of a clean laboratory. Um, however, we can't expect to completely eliminate contamination, so we should collect various blanks to quantify.

00:45:16.000 --> 00:45:31.000
potential contamination. Um, this figure, 3-2 is from the guidance document, and it outlines some of the considerations and example commercial laboratory implemented in their microplastics lab to.

00:45:31.000 --> 00:45:37.000
Um, make a clean lab. So, these components are aluminum ceiling tiles.

00:45:37.000 --> 00:45:47.000
a dedicated custom-designed gowning room with an airlock. And that… that gowning room has separate HVAC from both the inner lab.

00:45:47.000 --> 00:45:59.000
the airlock and the, um, outer hallway, and there's, um… pressure triggers when a technician moves between the rooms to prevent airflow between them.

00:45:59.000 --> 00:46:09.000
Um, there's also a rigorous water filtration system, and the room is cleaned twice daily with a HEPA-filtered vacuum.

00:46:09.000 --> 00:46:15.000
So, in summary, sampling and analysis methods for microplastics are continuously evolving.

00:46:15.000 --> 00:46:23.000
And being evaluated. There are two standard sampling methods for drink… for water.

00:46:23.000 --> 00:46:32.000
As we discussed, and the FTIR and. analytical methods were adopted for drinking water in California. For other media scenarios.

00:46:32.000 --> 00:46:47.000
please use our ITRC tools to help select methods for your specific project, and while you're planning out your sampling program, make sure to minimize and account for contamination.

00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:54.000
That, we will pause for a question and answer break.

00:46:54.000 --> 00:47:04.000
Alright, thanks Aaliyah, and as she mentioned, we are at our first question and answer break of the training. We will have one more opportunity at the end of the training to answer your questions live.

00:47:04.000 --> 00:47:08.000
But I do see a few open questions in the chat for our trainers.

00:47:08.000 --> 00:47:20.000
First one, um, is there any data on what percentage of microplastic pollution is from primary versus secondary sources?

00:47:20.000 --> 00:47:33.000
I can go ahead and take that one, Taylor. So, while we don't have the exact percentage difference between it, secondary microplastics are significantly more abundant than primary microplastics.

00:47:33.000 --> 00:47:42.000
Secondary microplastics are continuously being formed, um, as products break down. Most of what we have in our oceans is secondary microplastics.

00:47:42.000 --> 00:47:57.000
Versus those primary microplastics, like plastic beads. Um, and nurdles, which are used to create macroplastics, um, are… are less out in the environment than those primary micro… or than those secondary microplastics. So I don't know the percentage.

00:47:57.000 --> 00:48:06.000
It's certainly more primary, and… I'm sorry, certainly more secondary, and the primary is just going to continue to break down and form second.

00:48:06.000 --> 00:48:16.000
secondary, um, since it's such a wide range of, um, things that create microplastics from that one nanometer all the way up to the 5 micrometers.

00:48:16.000 --> 00:48:25.000
I want to add something. This is Yasmin, and… There are roughly, I can give some kind of percentages regarding secondary.

00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:34.000
Uh, versus primary microplastics, and Valeria is absolutely correct. It is almost 80%.

00:48:34.000 --> 00:48:41.000
of the total microplastic, uh, generates from the secondary microplastics, so.

00:48:41.000 --> 00:48:53.000
80% secondary microplastics, roughly, and 20%. primary microplastics, and another, uh, thing that I want to add, this confirmed the.

00:48:53.000 --> 00:49:11.000
what we found from the recent. hospitality, um… study that we perform, it was almost very close to that finding, so…

00:49:11.000 --> 00:49:21.000
Thanks, Valerie. Thanks, Yasmin. Um, another question we have, um, a recent study highlighted methodological challenges.

00:49:21.000 --> 00:49:27.000
Sorry, losing it. Um, that can produce false positives when detecting microplastics in human blood.

00:49:27.000 --> 00:49:34.000
What specific contamination controls and analytical validation steps do you recommend to distinguish true.

00:49:34.000 --> 00:49:44.000
And endogeneous particles from laboratory or environmental contamination. And the second part of that, and how does that impact the current stats we already have.

00:49:44.000 --> 00:49:50.000
On microplastic levels in the bloodstream. Let me know if anyone needs me to repeat that.

00:49:50.000 --> 00:50:04.000
Yeah, I can comment on the first part. So, um, I… I've read the articles you're talking about, um… Excuse me. Uh, there is a standard method that has been.

00:50:04.000 --> 00:50:14.000
Um, published since this guidance document, this microplastics guidance document we developed through ITRC, so we don't comment on it in this document, but.

00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:24.000
It's ISO24187. Um, and it's called Principles for the Analysis of Microplastics Present in the Environment, and.

00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:37.000
That is an international standard. Um, of sampling… protocols and analytical protocols for specific… for microplastics.

00:50:37.000 --> 00:50:49.000
Um, so I believe in that… I haven't… been able to obtain a copy of that, um, but… you could purchase that and see what kinds of quality assurance.

00:50:49.000 --> 00:50:56.000
samples specifically are recommended in there, and that would kind of be, like, the gold standard of.

00:50:56.000 --> 00:51:06.000
Of… Um, 2AQC… analysis. And so, yes, the… I think especially with.

00:51:06.000 --> 00:51:15.000
human and tissue samples is the… Um… that… that is a bit more complex than, like, the water samples that.

00:51:15.000 --> 00:51:24.000
Um, a lot of our research has been done on. So, I think for the, um… The second part of the question about.

00:51:24.000 --> 00:51:38.000
What does that… how does that affect our… understanding of different discoveries. I don't know, Valerie, if you wanted to jump in, if that's why your video's on. I think Usha… Might also have some insights.

00:51:38.000 --> 00:51:45.000
I was gonna comment, but I won't say too much, I'll let Usha say something as well, and Usha is about to give us the human health.

00:51:45.000 --> 00:51:52.000
Um, portion of the training, and so some of that, I think, will come out in the training that she does talk about.

00:51:52.000 --> 00:52:09.000
Um, I think the one thing I do want to say is these, these, this paper came out recently to… and sheds a lot of, um… you know, doubt on some of the information that was previously, um, identified as microplastics in human tissues.

00:52:09.000 --> 00:52:15.000
And I do want to state that there is overwhelming evidence that there are microplastics in human tissues.

00:52:15.000 --> 00:52:23.000
Um, a lot of… there's accuracy in those papers, that early studies didn't do as good of a job at, um.

00:52:23.000 --> 00:52:30.000
having the proper controls in place, and there likely is contamination, and maybe the numbers that came out from those studies.

00:52:30.000 --> 00:52:46.000
Um, some of the early studies aren't exactly correct, but that doesn't mean that we don't still have microplastics in human tissues, and that there isn't things that we need to be doing to reduce microplastics. So I just think that's an important caveat as we read those papers and we think about moving forward.

00:52:46.000 --> 00:53:02.000
Um, to not think that. Our current understanding is incorrect because we might not have the exact numbers. Um, but with that, I'll let Usha add something, and then again, I think she'll get into it more in her section.

00:53:02.000 --> 00:53:08.000
Um, you know, I cannot… read the question, it's not showing up on my panel.

00:53:08.000 --> 00:53:13.000
Can you just read out that question for me?

00:53:13.000 --> 00:53:16.000
Yeah, did you want the whole… the whole question?

00:53:16.000 --> 00:53:21.000
Yeah, no, not the one about the methodological challenges. I think that's already been answered, but.

00:53:21.000 --> 00:53:27.000
Whatever piece it is that, um, Valerie thought I might want to add on to.

00:53:27.000 --> 00:53:31.000
I can't see the text for some reason. If you can read out that question.

00:53:31.000 --> 00:53:33.000
Um…

00:53:33.000 --> 00:53:43.000
Usha, it's essentially, um, the article you had been emailing about, about how, how does… the potential false positives affect.

00:53:43.000 --> 00:53:44.000
What we are understanding. Yep.

00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:53.000
Oh, okay, yeah. Really, the short answer, it will be, um, addressed more in the section coming up, but the short answer is.

00:53:53.000 --> 00:54:07.000
In terms of effects, you need to understand. in order to understand what the risks are for health, you need to understand how much exposure we have and what the toxicity is related to that level of exposure.

00:54:07.000 --> 00:54:18.000
And even though this study is. Really, all the study is doing is it's highlighting the uncertainties.

00:54:18.000 --> 00:54:30.000
in quantifying how much exposure we have. It's not really saying there is no exposure, it's just saying there's a lot of uncertainty in understanding how much might be in our tissues.

00:54:30.000 --> 00:54:36.000
And then, on the other side of the equation, there's still also uncertainty in quantifying.

00:54:36.000 --> 00:54:39.000
how much exposure leads to what kind of effect?

00:54:39.000 --> 00:54:48.000
And so, it's not really a bombshell study, as it's been, you know, marketed, so to speak, in the media.

00:54:48.000 --> 00:54:55.000
It's really just pointing out that there is still a lot we don't know, but as Valerie said, there is no doubt.

00:54:55.000 --> 00:55:00.000
that mycoplastics are present in tissues. The question is.

00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:04.000
how much confidence we have in how much there is.

00:55:04.000 --> 00:55:15.000
And then, at the same time, we're also still studying what the toxicity is and the mechanisms of toxicity. So I'll cover that more in the next section.

00:55:15.000 --> 00:55:22.000
And I guess one thing to add to that is, um, it was a good quote from a response to that.

00:55:22.000 --> 00:55:37.000
article by Sarah McEwitt was. Um, her quote was calling for greater scientific precision should never serve as an excuse for inaction. Rather, it should strengthen the resolve to generate undeniable evidence that supports a transition away from a plastic-dependent economy. So I think that's.

00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:42.000
you know, just another way of saying what Usha was saying. It doesn't dismiss.

00:55:42.000 --> 00:55:48.000
you know, might need to be refined a bit more, but doesn't throw out all of the findings.

00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:52.000
That have happened to date.

00:55:52.000 --> 00:56:01.000
It's really just a scientific process. You know, it's not just for microplastics, it's for any emerging chemical. It takes a while.

00:56:01.000 --> 00:56:10.000
to get to a point of high confidence in our measurements.

00:56:10.000 --> 00:56:17.000
Alright, thanks Aliyah, Valerie, and Usha, and since that was a good question to segue into our.

00:56:17.000 --> 00:56:28.000
Next section, um, we will have one more opportunity, like I mentioned, to answer questions live at the end of this training, but please continue to use that Q&A pod to ask your questions, and we will be monitoring it.

00:56:28.000 --> 00:56:43.000
Throughout the rest of the training. So I'm now going to turn it over to Usha to continue with human health and ecological risk.

00:56:43.000 --> 00:57:05.000
Okay, let me see if I can get my slides… Okay. Okay, well, so, um, I'm going to start with human health, and then proceed to ecological receptors today. I'm going to cover what we know and what we don't know about exposure and health effects related to microplastics.

00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:20.000
I'm going to go over some available tools for toxicity evaluation. A key point here is that we are referring to health effects related to microplastics, so just keep in mind that we're not talking about macroplastics, we're not talking about.

00:57:20.000 --> 00:57:27.000
masses of plastic bags in the stomachs of whales and so on. This is about particles much smaller than that.

00:57:27.000 --> 00:57:43.000
So… Okay. And, uh, under the Human Health and Receptor categories, I'm going to talk about… a little bit about exposure, a little bit about effects, and a little bit about the uncertainties.

00:57:43.000 --> 00:57:50.000
So, as, uh, I believe this was shown in Dishli's, um, slides as well.

00:57:50.000 --> 00:57:57.000
to understand the potential health effects of any substance, we need to have information on.

00:57:57.000 --> 00:58:06.000
exposure, and also on. Um, whether or not it's hazardous to health, and what is the nature of that hazard.

00:58:06.000 --> 00:58:12.000
So, for this level of information, we… it is critically important to have.

00:58:12.000 --> 00:58:19.000
sufficient toxicity information where the data quality is acceptable. That's just really important.

00:58:19.000 --> 00:58:26.000
And the available toxicity information for microplastics, it follows the typical trend that we see.

00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:39.000
for any kind of emerging chemicals, where in the beginning, you'll have very few studies, very little information, and then there'll be a, you know, a quick big increase in the rate of studies being published.

00:58:39.000 --> 00:58:47.000
And for microplastics, there's been a big increase from the 1990s to current years.

00:58:47.000 --> 00:58:53.000
So there's a lot of work going on. And when it comes to human health exposures.

00:58:53.000 --> 00:59:01.000
There's multiple media and multiple pathways for human exposure to microplastics.

00:59:01.000 --> 00:59:07.000
And the exposure, it varies by where we live, um, and.

00:59:07.000 --> 00:59:19.000
to some degree are lifestyles. And, um, this slide, which is based on the work we did up to the time of the guidance publication, it shows inhalation as.

00:59:19.000 --> 00:59:27.000
Outweighing dietary ingestion in terms of the magnitude of human exposure to microplastics.

00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:46.000
But actually, since then, there's been more studies showing that there are local and regional differences, and like Judd was saying earlier, that in urban and industrial areas, typically you can see more microplastics in air than in other areas, and so now there are also studies that show.

00:59:46.000 --> 01:00:02.000
that inhalation exposures may be greater in urban areas, but dietary ingestion-related exposures may be greater in other areas. And so, uh, it just depends on certain environmental factors.

01:00:02.000 --> 01:00:05.000
Uh, in terms of how much we are exposed to.

01:00:05.000 --> 01:00:16.000
So, uh, but in general, inhalation and ingestion, uh, exposures outweigh exposures related to dermal contact.

01:00:16.000 --> 01:00:22.000
So, now, in terms of understanding the toxicity of microplastics.

01:00:22.000 --> 01:00:30.000
So, we've mentioned right from the beginning that microplastics isn't just one kind of particle or one kind of size.

01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:37.000
It is so variable in terms of what the chemical composition of the particles is.

01:00:37.000 --> 01:00:42.000
what their sizes are, even their shapes. And they're, uh.

01:00:42.000 --> 01:00:54.000
you know, their behavior in the environment, do they sink? Do they swim in the water? That kind of thing. And because of all of this, it actually makes toxicity research on microplastics.

01:00:54.000 --> 01:01:01.000
A really complicated issue, and when we look at the toxicity literature, there's a lot of uncertainties.

01:01:01.000 --> 01:01:19.000
In the study design that can be related back to, do we know exactly what exposure concentration they used or they were measuring? What's the quality of the data? Are they reporting everything that we would need to know? What is the data gaps?

01:01:19.000 --> 01:01:29.000
So, these 6 boxes in that figure on the right, they show some of the challenges associated with doing TOX research on microplastics.

01:01:29.000 --> 01:01:43.000
And one key thing to remember when we think about this in a risk assessment framework is just being exposed to something doesn't automatically mean that there's going to be an adverse health effect.

01:01:43.000 --> 01:01:51.000
associated with it. The whole premise of dose-response assessment is that we are trying to get beyond that.

01:01:51.000 --> 01:01:58.000
documentation of exposure to something that's a more predictable relationship between.

01:01:58.000 --> 01:02:03.000
how much exposure and what kind of exposure might lead to what kind of health effect.

01:02:03.000 --> 01:02:15.000
So, all of this just goes to show that microplastics toxicity research is very, very active right now, and there's a lot more that we need to know.

01:02:15.000 --> 01:02:23.000
So, um, carfen et al, I think it was in 2022, they published, um, a study.

01:02:23.000 --> 01:02:28.000
Where they did a sort of a literature review of, um, of the.

01:02:28.000 --> 01:02:39.000
not just the toxicity information itself, but just the quality of the toxicity studies that were available at that time regarding microplastic toxicity, and they came up.

01:02:39.000 --> 01:02:59.000
With, uh, these bars that show 26. test quality criteria that ideally, you would want the studies to meet these criteria before you can say there's a really good talk study, I'm going to take the information from this and use it to develop regulatory thresholds or whatever.

01:02:59.000 --> 01:03:06.000
And among these, the red ones, the red bars are considered the minimum.

01:03:06.000 --> 01:03:13.000
Test quality criteria that need to be met, and the green ones are the ones that would be nice to have.

01:03:13.000 --> 01:03:19.000
And if you look at the x-axis on the bottom, you can see how many studies.

01:03:19.000 --> 01:03:35.000
met all of these criteria, and. At that time, there were very few studies that met all of them. And again, it just means that, again, you know, we need to know more. And so, at this time.

01:03:35.000 --> 01:03:42.000
this is the best that we can do. As of 2022. Since then, of course, as I'm saying, there's a lot more studies.

01:03:42.000 --> 01:03:49.000
But having said this, um, some of the toxicity endpoints.

01:03:49.000 --> 01:03:58.000
for human health in particular, they did try to come up with some estimation of trends.

01:03:58.000 --> 01:04:08.000
And when we say human toxicity, in fact, keep in mind that most of the studies, they are mammalian studies, but really they're based on rodents.

01:04:08.000 --> 01:04:19.000
Rat, mouse, and so on. There are really no studies that I know of where they've done reliable dose-response assessment using human toxicity data.

01:04:19.000 --> 01:04:25.000
So, here, some of the most commonly reported health effects for humans.

01:04:25.000 --> 01:04:32.000
include female reproductive effects, male reproductive effects, effects on the liver.

01:04:32.000 --> 01:04:40.000
And, um, some effects are, you know, on, um, general systemic and organismal effects.

01:04:40.000 --> 01:04:56.000
And so, it is… Um, there's a… there's a wider range of effects that have been reported since then, and many of them include information from.

01:04:56.000 --> 01:05:01.000
On cellular level responses and metabolic responses in mouse studies.

01:05:01.000 --> 01:05:10.000
There's correlations from epidemiological studies, and so a wide range of the effects that are considered possible now includes.

01:05:10.000 --> 01:05:18.000
Oxidative stress, DNA damage. inflammation, immune responses, and neurotoxicity.

01:05:18.000 --> 01:05:26.000
And, um, these are initial reports, and really, we need more work to carry it to the next level of.

01:05:26.000 --> 01:05:31.000
reliability and certainty.

01:05:31.000 --> 01:05:41.000
Now, when it comes to, um, ecological toxicity, there's actually a lot more studies, just because it's easier, you know, to test.

01:05:41.000 --> 01:05:47.000
fish or invertebrates. for toxic effects than it is to test humans.

01:05:47.000 --> 01:05:53.000
And so, this just shows you the wealth of data that's available.

01:05:53.000 --> 01:05:59.000
Uh, as of a couple years ago, and it just shows you that.

01:05:59.000 --> 01:06:14.000
some of these groups, like fish. studies, and the molluscan studies, you have a lot more than you have a million studies, and so on.

01:06:14.000 --> 01:06:23.000
So, to talk about aquatic toxicity as an example, um, there are 3 ways, actually, that microplastics can.

01:06:23.000 --> 01:06:28.000
exert toxicity. And this applies to humans as well as ecological.

01:06:28.000 --> 01:06:39.000
organisms. One is. physical, which is the toxicity that can be exerted just by the nature of the particles themselves.

01:06:39.000 --> 01:06:51.000
Think of it like asthma or something, you know, you have something in the air, you're breathing, just the fact that you're breathing in particles can cause some kind of a toxic effect.

01:06:51.000 --> 01:07:02.000
Then, the other kind of toxicity is chemical, which is what is a particle made of? And is it made of chemicals that are particularly hazardous in some way?

01:07:02.000 --> 01:07:06.000
There's a third type of toxicity, actually, for microplastics, which is.

01:07:06.000 --> 01:07:22.000
Um, when they serve as vectors for. pathogens. So if you have particles going through a wastewater treatment system, and they're still coming out, and there's viruses and bacteria riding along, and they're released into the environment, then you can have.

01:07:22.000 --> 01:07:33.000
pathogenic effects as well. But today, I'm not going to cover the chemical and the pathogenic, because you can really kind of evaluate it based on existing information in the literature.

01:07:33.000 --> 01:07:43.000
What's more unique about microplastics is the. physical, the mechanical toxicity associated with the particles themselves.

01:07:43.000 --> 01:07:47.000
And here, it really matters what the particle size is.

01:07:47.000 --> 01:08:00.000
The other thing that matters is the shape of the particle, but let's first talk about the size of the particle. So the smaller the particle, which is, as you go to the left-hand side of this little graphic.

01:08:00.000 --> 01:08:07.000
The more those particles are so small that they can penetrate really deep into the tissues.

01:08:07.000 --> 01:08:13.000
They can even cross barriers, um, you know, membranes and cellular barriers.

01:08:13.000 --> 01:08:25.000
And so, the kind of damage that you can see, it can be at the cellular level, so there can be inflammation responses, there can be oxidative stress reactions.

01:08:25.000 --> 01:08:38.000
And there can be neurological effects. On the right side, as the particles get larger, then you can have physical damage, like it just gets into the gut of a fish, for example.

01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:46.000
And sits there, and it's a particle that is occupying space in the gut, but it has no nutritional value.

01:08:46.000 --> 01:09:02.000
So, you can have food dilution, you can have gastrointestinal obstruction, and we can have irritation and injury. And so, uh, it… what it really shows is that there's a whole range of effects.

01:09:02.000 --> 01:09:11.000
that can be experienced by the organism, depending on the size of the particle. There's actually even shape and.

01:09:11.000 --> 01:09:16.000
shape-related effects. So, if you have a very irregular particle.

01:09:16.000 --> 01:09:23.000
with sharp edges, they have noticed that that can cause more inflammation and physical injury to the tissues.

01:09:23.000 --> 01:09:32.000
And, um, a lot of the research right now is focused on the studies that report them. They'll use, like, one single size of.

01:09:32.000 --> 01:09:48.000
Um, spherical particles, for example, for their testing. And nothing wrong with that, but what it doesn't capture is other kinds of particles, and so… for fibers in particular, the toxicology research right now is very understudied.

01:09:48.000 --> 01:10:04.000
But similar to asbestos. the longer, skinnier fibers can often penetrate really deep into tissues, and we still don't know enough about what kind of toxicity might be associated with that.

01:10:04.000 --> 01:10:14.000
So, here is some information in particular for the cellular damage, um, and the thing I want to highlight here is.

01:10:14.000 --> 01:10:24.000
How the particles. the smaller they are, have the ability to translocate within the tissue. So they may come in through.

01:10:24.000 --> 01:10:37.000
ingestion, but then they could really go really far out and end up in some other parts of the body. And the last thing, interesting thing on the nutritional deficiencies is that sometimes.

01:10:37.000 --> 01:10:50.000
fish and aquatic invertebrates, they can preferentially consume. the microplastics particles. Based on the size and the shape and the color, they can think that it's food.

01:10:50.000 --> 01:11:02.000
And so, they go after it, and they eat it on purpose, but then, of course, it turns out that it has no value and could actually cause some toxicity.

01:11:02.000 --> 01:11:09.000
So there's a world of information out there. Um, there… how do we try to get a handle on all of it? There's.

01:11:09.000 --> 01:11:22.000
Um… program that's been developed in association with the Southern California Coastal Water Research Program. Uh, it's called, uh.

01:11:22.000 --> 01:11:33.000
Tomex, toxicity, microplastics Explorer, and if you use this tool, it's a really nice, easy-to-use tool. They have compiled information on toxicity.

01:11:33.000 --> 01:11:39.000
And, um, it's just so nice, nicely set up in terms of.

01:11:39.000 --> 01:11:49.000
You can find the information that you want from whatever is available there. It also allows you to visualize and do various kinds of plots and graphs.

01:11:49.000 --> 01:12:02.000
to get a better handle on what the data show and the interpretation. So, that is worth checking out if you are more interested in this.

01:12:02.000 --> 01:12:20.000
So, the last topic is, okay, with all this information on exposure and toxicity, what we really want to know with the risk-based approach is what is safe and what is not safe? You know, what… how much level of microplastics can we tolerate, and then what do we do about it?

01:12:20.000 --> 01:12:24.000
And at this time, there are no universal risk-based thresholds.

01:12:24.000 --> 01:12:35.000
that have any regulatory significance. Um, but people are trying to come up with something, and again, Squirp in, um, California.

01:12:35.000 --> 01:12:40.000
tried to, along with people from the water, uh, resource… from the water boards.

01:12:40.000 --> 01:12:46.000
did some initial work where they took available aquatic toxicity information.

01:12:46.000 --> 01:12:51.000
And, um, they tried to come up with these numeric categories of.

01:12:51.000 --> 01:12:58.000
what number of particles per liter in water, or sometimes they look at, um, mass.

01:12:58.000 --> 01:13:02.000
You know, micrograms of microplastics per liter in water.

01:13:02.000 --> 01:13:09.000
corresponded to different levels of adverse effects, and they came up with 5 tiers.

01:13:09.000 --> 01:13:20.000
ranging from no concern to Tier 5 highest concern. And then they tried to come up with actionable items associated with those.

01:13:20.000 --> 01:13:26.000
five tiers, and on the right side, they took data that had been collected.

01:13:26.000 --> 01:13:33.000
for, um, this Bay Area by the San Francisco Estuary Institute, and they tried to correlate.

01:13:33.000 --> 01:13:41.000
Their five tiers with the data that was actually collected, and if you see, the red triangles.

01:13:41.000 --> 01:13:46.000
Those are the areas that. met Tier 5.

01:13:46.000 --> 01:14:00.000
And those are located in the south. Most southern end of the San Francisco Bay, where there is the least mixing of water, and so that is where they found the highest concentrations and highest potential.

01:14:00.000 --> 01:14:05.000
for, um, for adverse effects to the aquatic community.

01:14:05.000 --> 01:14:18.000
And then as you went more out into the open water, there was a lot more dilution, and so there, it was more in the Tier 1 to Tier 2 levels.

01:14:18.000 --> 01:14:28.000
Okay, let me… I have a couple more things to say. So, these are, um, these are numeric levels at this point.

01:14:28.000 --> 01:14:41.000
But they were developed only for the purpose of sort of establishing a protocol. They have no regulatory significance at this time, and you can actually go to their website and find these numbers.

01:14:41.000 --> 01:14:48.000
But they have not been… they are still working on improving those numbers to get to a higher level of confidence.

01:14:48.000 --> 01:15:03.000
and robustness. And so, it just, um… it's still an ongoing process, and so be aware that these are not final numbers at this time.

01:15:03.000 --> 01:15:09.000
So, if you also… if you go to Appendix A2 in our guidance document, there is a really cool.

01:15:09.000 --> 01:15:26.000
case study there that looks at the consequences of microplastics in Chesapeake Bay, where they tried to look at the specific effects on ecological endpoints, and that's an interesting study to look at.

01:15:26.000 --> 01:15:35.000
And so, in summary, for the health effects, there's these physical, chemical, and biological hazards associated with microplastics.

01:15:35.000 --> 01:15:45.000
As, um, like we were just talking about for the earlier study, uh, that Alia and I were discussing, exposure characterization, it's really highly uncertain.

01:15:45.000 --> 01:15:55.000
But it doesn't mean the exposure is not happening. It's just a matter of how do we quantify it, um, you know, to a better and better level of.

01:15:55.000 --> 01:16:00.000
confidence. And adverse outcome pathway information is still needed.

01:16:00.000 --> 01:16:10.000
And as always, we always need to know more about toxicity, not just the effects, but the mechanisms of toxicity and how it happens.

01:16:10.000 --> 01:16:29.000
So we still have a lot to learn, but… Uh, like any other emerging chemical, uh, every… I would say every 2 to 3 years, we know a lot more than we used to know, and so we're still on that path. And with that, I am going to turn this over to…

01:16:29.000 --> 01:16:34.000
Alex for the next case study.

01:16:34.000 --> 01:16:38.000
Hey, Susha. Um, so you're now… you're looking at our last poll.

01:16:38.000 --> 01:16:45.000
Um, we've gone through… Um… sources of microplastics.

01:16:45.000 --> 01:16:50.000
media exposure and transport of those microplastics. So lastly, we're looking at.

01:16:50.000 --> 01:16:56.000
Who are the human and ecological receptors? So we're gonna do the same thing we've been doing.

01:16:56.000 --> 01:17:01.000
You're gonna look at this slide, you're gonna come up with what receptors do you see.

01:17:01.000 --> 01:17:06.000
in this, uh, figure. You have 30 seconds, and we're beginning already.

01:17:06.000 --> 01:17:16.000
Fish, everyone's getting the fish, everyone's getting aquatic. Air. Air is not really a, uh… human or ecological exposure. Um, drinking water.

01:17:16.000 --> 01:17:21.000
Humans. There we go. Aquatic invertebrates fish birds.

01:17:21.000 --> 01:17:27.000
Okay, we're getting all those crops, very good, produce.

01:17:27.000 --> 01:17:38.000
Water, wildlife? very livestock. I think we're getting… we've gotten them all in some more manner. Okay, you can… You can stop what you're doing.

01:17:38.000 --> 01:17:41.000
We're going to take a look at what's in… what our answers are. So here.

01:17:41.000 --> 01:17:49.000
Here, if you look closely, we have. Two columns. One column is human exposures, and others are ecological receptors.

01:17:49.000 --> 01:17:56.000
So, you see that when probably most people didn't… the beach swimmer. Well, I'm a swimmer, so that's what I'm going to remember first.

01:17:56.000 --> 01:18:02.000
Uh, beach user, base swimmer. Um, that uses the agricultural worker, can't forget them.

01:18:02.000 --> 01:18:09.000
How about the people that are working in the landfill, or in the industrial facility, or living in the homes?

01:18:09.000 --> 01:18:14.000
All having exposures to microplastics. due to the products they use, the products they make.

01:18:14.000 --> 01:18:19.000
Or the trash that's coming into the landfill. Local anglers.

01:18:19.000 --> 01:18:27.000
Yeah, yes, they're gonna be consuming, potentially consuming those fish that are being exposed. All the… all the aquatic receptors.

01:18:27.000 --> 01:18:33.000
All the animals you see in this figure, they're all being exposed at one point or another.

01:18:33.000 --> 01:18:38.000
Um… produce and crop consumers, we got those, I think, already.

01:18:38.000 --> 01:18:47.000
Vegetation. The last one, I don't think. We even mentioned, so I would have been surprised if someone would have gotten soil invertebrates.

01:18:47.000 --> 01:18:55.000
If you remember, microplastics move through the soil column, and invertebrates can be exposed.

01:18:55.000 --> 01:19:03.000
All right, very good. That's a great job. So, let me go to the next slide. So, we've generated all this information.

01:19:03.000 --> 01:19:10.000
We've given you the… we've given you. where it is in the environment, how it's moving through the environment, who's being exposed.

01:19:10.000 --> 01:19:14.000
And what media is being impacted by these microplastics?

01:19:14.000 --> 01:19:18.000
So, what can you do? The next steps, just like you would do in any.

01:19:18.000 --> 01:19:28.000
site investigation that you're looking at. You're gonna have, to develop the site conceptual model, and we've given you all the information to give you a generic one, a draft one to start with.

01:19:28.000 --> 01:19:38.000
So you take that information, massage it. for your particular site, and from that site… site… Uh, consum… excuse me… conceptual site model.

01:19:38.000 --> 01:19:45.000
You'll be able to develop a sampling analysis plan, which is the normal process you would go with any pollutant out here.

01:19:45.000 --> 01:19:57.000
So, depending on your site, your sources, your, um, what… questions you're going to try to answer, you can come up with your site conceptual model and develop the sample analysis plan.

01:19:57.000 --> 01:20:00.000
So with that, you think you've gotten rid of me, but no such luck.

01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:03.000
I'm going to be coming in, and I'm going to be doing.

01:20:03.000 --> 01:20:18.000
regulatory context for you guys. So, strap on, we're gonna do some… deep dive, or sort of a deep dive into the regulatory world of microplastics.

01:20:18.000 --> 01:20:23.000
So, back in 2021, when we first formed our.

01:20:23.000 --> 01:20:33.000
really new and forming our microplastics team. ITRC surveyed the states about their regulatory actions to address microplastics.

01:20:33.000 --> 01:20:38.000
Um, this slide highlights some of the most significant results from the 25 states that.

01:20:38.000 --> 01:20:45.000
That who responded. And for… if you want additional details about the survey results, you can take a look at section 6.

01:20:45.000 --> 01:20:52.000
point one of our guidance document. So, if you look closely here, one of the questions we had.

01:20:52.000 --> 01:21:01.000
was, um, sampling from microplastics. If you look closely, only California, the states in green there, California, Texas.

01:21:01.000 --> 01:21:09.000
and New Jersey responded… that responded. reported that their stage had sampled for mycoplastics in the environment.

01:21:09.000 --> 01:21:14.000
doesn't mean that other states hadn't required, maybe, responsible parties or somebody else to sample.

01:21:14.000 --> 01:21:24.000
But actually conducting the sampling themselves. Well, no… but if you look closely then, at the next… next figure down there.

01:21:24.000 --> 01:21:30.000
How many have taken, um, established criteria for microplastics?

01:21:30.000 --> 01:21:33.000
Well, no states have done that. However, two states.

01:21:33.000 --> 01:21:38.000
Pennsylvania and California indicated that they are looking into the possibility of doing so.

01:21:38.000 --> 01:21:50.000
You gotta remember, this is back in 2021. that these results came in, so there could be some changes along the way. There might be more states that actually are doing these types of activities on microplastics.

01:21:50.000 --> 01:21:54.000
Six others reported that they might have… might do so in the future, establish.

01:21:54.000 --> 01:22:00.000
Look at establishing criteria.

01:22:00.000 --> 01:22:06.000
So, states have taken various regulatory actions to tackle microplastics, you know, the big pieces.

01:22:06.000 --> 01:22:12.000
In general, and this slide provides some examples. Um, the most typical kinds of actions.

01:22:12.000 --> 01:22:18.000
taken by states are things like recycling mandates and phasing out single-use plastic bags.

01:22:18.000 --> 01:22:29.000
phasing out restaurant utensils and food packaging. Um, notably, if you look closely, there's some states have actually banned the implementation of those kind of actions.

01:22:29.000 --> 01:22:37.000
by their local governments.

01:22:37.000 --> 01:22:43.000
So, more information about on the state actions and focus on marriage can be found in Appendix C.

01:22:43.000 --> 01:22:50.000
of our guidance document, which I will be describing in the next few slides.

01:22:50.000 --> 01:22:57.000
Appendix C of the outline of… our online guidance document includes detailed summaries of state.

01:22:57.000 --> 01:23:03.000
federal and international efforts to address plastic pollution, not just microplastic, but also macroplastics.

01:23:03.000 --> 01:23:09.000
This appendix is in the form of an Excel spreadsheet.

01:23:09.000 --> 01:23:13.000
with a tab for state and international statutory and regulations.

01:23:13.000 --> 01:23:20.000
that focus on various kinds of microplastics pollution. The Federal tab includes federal statutes like the Clean Water Act.

01:23:20.000 --> 01:23:26.000
And the Marines react, as well as bills passed by Congress that authorize plastic pollution reduction efforts.

01:23:26.000 --> 01:23:36.000
As an example of that, 2021's. SAVE or C's 2.0, um… bills that got passed through Congress.

01:23:36.000 --> 01:23:41.000
The other… there are two other tabs on the list on our table there.

01:23:41.000 --> 01:23:46.000
One that lists the acronyms and abbreviations that are used in the summaries.

01:23:46.000 --> 01:23:50.000
Of course, this is a regulatory rule, there are a lot of acronyms, so it's probably good to have that.

01:23:50.000 --> 01:23:58.000
Um, table for you guys to look at. And the other summarizes state actions targeted towards macroplastics, so they're actually special.

01:23:58.000 --> 01:24:06.000
to, uh, list there for macroplastics. You see those on the bottom of the screen.

01:24:06.000 --> 01:24:13.000
So, here's… here we go blow-up of a portion of the, um… Excel spreadsheet.

01:24:13.000 --> 01:24:21.000
that talks about regulatory criteria. Um, so the state regulatory context provides through a summary table.

01:24:21.000 --> 01:24:26.000
So we're talking about here, which lists all the states and highlights whether or not they have requirements in place.

01:24:26.000 --> 01:24:32.000
that are focused on addressing plastics and microplastics. These requirements are briefly described.

01:24:32.000 --> 01:24:35.000
See, there's a column for description of what it is.

01:24:35.000 --> 01:24:40.000
Um, and web links. far right column.

01:24:40.000 --> 01:24:47.000
where you can actually access these, um. various bills, regulations that have been adopted, or even just, um.

01:24:47.000 --> 01:24:54.000
things that they're doing. For example, the summary includes Connecticut's 2021 House bill.

01:24:54.000 --> 01:25:00.000
Number 5, 3, 6, 0. which established a working group of representatives from both the retail.

01:25:00.000 --> 01:25:06.000
And apparel industry and environmental community to focus on synthetic microfiber pollution.

01:25:06.000 --> 01:25:10.000
This working group focuses on developing consumer awareness, um.

01:25:10.000 --> 01:25:17.000
education programs in order to present information regarding synthetic microfibers in the clothing to the public.

01:25:17.000 --> 01:25:21.000
And there's a website you can actually go and see what they're doing.

01:25:21.000 --> 01:25:26.000
And the second example, below that is one example of the Illinois prohibition.

01:25:26.000 --> 01:25:30.000
Are the manufacturing and sale of any non-drug personal care product.

01:25:30.000 --> 01:25:36.000
that contains synthetic plastic microbeads. By 2018 and 2019, respectively.

01:25:36.000 --> 01:25:40.000
This law also prohibits the manufacture for sale and.

01:25:40.000 --> 01:25:51.000
sale and sale of any over-the-counter drug that contains synthetic plastic microbeads by 2019 and 2020, respectively.

01:25:51.000 --> 01:25:58.000
Similar table, this one see here, is one of the various countries, and there's a number of different countries that have done something.

01:25:58.000 --> 01:26:03.000
And we'll discuss one of those in just the next slide coming up here.

01:26:03.000 --> 01:26:07.000
So here's an example of the European Union, and it's one of its efforts.

01:26:07.000 --> 01:26:18.000
It starts in 2019, the very top of the flowchart there, with a proposal by ECA, ECHA, which is the European Chemicals Agency.

01:26:18.000 --> 01:26:23.000
to restrict intentionally added microplastics to consumer and professional products.

01:26:23.000 --> 01:26:30.000
The risk assessment committee. Supports the proposal in 2020, that's the blue box.

01:26:30.000 --> 01:26:44.000
and recommends lowering the limit on particle size. Then REACH, which is the registration, evaluation, authorization, and restriction of Chemicals Committee, votes in favor of the proposal in 2023.

01:26:44.000 --> 01:26:52.000
And the Commission adopts measures to restrict. and intentionally added microplastics in September of 2023.

01:26:52.000 --> 01:26:55.000
So that, I mean, that's… it's not a quick process, obviously.

01:26:55.000 --> 01:27:00.000
four years or so to get there, but at least they're doing something.

01:27:00.000 --> 01:27:04.000
Here's… now, give me a second example. We have a case study in our document.

01:27:04.000 --> 01:27:09.000
And it's basically that one in California's approach to addressing microplastic.

01:27:09.000 --> 01:27:13.000
This case study was included to provide a closer look at the key components.

01:27:13.000 --> 01:27:26.000
Of one state's microplastic program. So you look at the… if you look on the left-hand side, um… We have Senate Bill 1422.

01:27:26.000 --> 01:27:32.000
And that's basically focused on drinking water, included a definition of microplastics and a standard method.

01:27:32.000 --> 01:27:40.000
applicable to testing for microplastics in drinking water. It also included a 4-year drinking water testing and reporting program.

01:27:40.000 --> 01:27:47.000
Including… including public disclosure of those results. And a policy handbook was issued in September 2022.

01:27:47.000 --> 01:27:56.000
to help implement the four-year testing effort. The first two here is the monitoring results will be followed by 6 months of evaluation.

01:27:56.000 --> 01:28:01.000
Which will be included in figuring out whether more sophisticated test methods are needed.

01:28:01.000 --> 01:28:06.000
So, if you look at the timing. All this has been pretty much completed by now.

01:28:06.000 --> 01:28:12.000
It's in the process of being completed this year with the 4 years of monitoring. So, if you want to look at results.

01:28:12.000 --> 01:28:18.000
Go to California, look at the California, uh, state California Water Quality Control Board.

01:28:18.000 --> 01:28:21.000
and or the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment.

01:28:21.000 --> 01:28:24.000
web pages, and they can probably give you some of these results.

01:28:24.000 --> 01:28:27.000
But I would go to the water boards one first.

01:28:27.000 --> 01:28:37.000
So, the second bill that was adopted was. 1263, and it committed the state to developing and implementing a statewide microplastic strategy.

01:28:37.000 --> 01:28:42.000
This strategy was issued in February of 2022 and provides a multi-year roadmap.

01:28:42.000 --> 01:28:46.000
Identifying specific actions that the state planned to take.

01:28:46.000 --> 01:28:51.000
So, as I said before, this… all this came out prior.

01:28:51.000 --> 01:28:58.000
To or just during our implementation or issuing of our guidance document.

01:28:58.000 --> 01:29:03.000
We say, what's going on since then? Well. We have a couple slides that give you some ideas of what have.

01:29:03.000 --> 01:29:08.000
Actions have taken place since 2020. Uh, 2022.

01:29:08.000 --> 01:29:15.000
Um, first. There's been the introduction of microplastic Safety Act.

01:29:15.000 --> 01:29:24.000
Um, by HR, Human Res… Senate federal actions, basically, the Senate has dropped this bill to look at.

01:29:24.000 --> 01:29:29.000
Um, introduction of a safety… evaluation of safety of microplastics.

01:29:29.000 --> 01:29:35.000
Um, so they can conduct a study and report to the Human Health Impact Exposure to microplastics.

01:29:35.000 --> 01:29:39.000
And the second one on the list, you see the Public Health Research Act.

01:29:39.000 --> 01:29:47.000
4903, expanding federal programs. related to plastic exposure, health research, and other purposes.

01:29:47.000 --> 01:29:50.000
in other words, putting more money into actually evaluating.

01:29:50.000 --> 01:29:54.000
What's going on with microplastics? And impacts on human health.

01:29:54.000 --> 01:29:59.000
So there's a few states that have actually taken some action already.

01:29:59.000 --> 01:30:03.000
And there's many more are in the process of looking into doing so.

01:30:03.000 --> 01:30:12.000
And the last one, um… There's other recent trends, uh, let's say it looks like a congressional report.

01:30:12.000 --> 01:30:16.000
was published on March 2025 and examines global and U.S.

01:30:16.000 --> 01:30:25.000
Plastic production, use, and disposal statistics. and discusses contamination of oceans and freshwater by microplastics.

01:30:25.000 --> 01:30:33.000
Then Noah, and it's a Marine Debris Program. Which is the United States government's lead for addressing the impacts on marine debris.

01:30:33.000 --> 01:30:37.000
on our… in oceans and waterways. and the Great Lakes, um.

01:30:37.000 --> 01:30:46.000
And then there's… basically, it's discussed that the program is conducting research on microplastics and associated impacts on aquatic ecosystems.

01:30:46.000 --> 01:30:50.000
And I already discussed the last one there, we already discussed that a few slides ago.

01:30:50.000 --> 01:30:54.000
So now you're done with me, and I'm going to be turning you over.

01:30:54.000 --> 01:31:00.000
to, um, Yasmin Kanuku of the WSP, and she's going to be talking about mitigation.

01:31:00.000 --> 01:31:10.000
and abatement.

01:31:10.000 --> 01:31:22.000
Thank you, Alex, uh, for the overview of the current regulations about microplastic. I will now be covering the mitigation and abatement.

01:31:22.000 --> 01:31:28.000
section from our guidance document.

01:31:28.000 --> 01:31:37.000
Uh, during the first part of the presentation, I will be talking about prevention and mitigation.

01:31:37.000 --> 01:31:44.000
Um, about microplastics, uh, to reduce microplastics from, uh, entering the.

01:31:44.000 --> 01:31:52.000
environment. The second half. We will focus on some technologies to abate, treat, and.

01:31:52.000 --> 01:32:00.000
Remediate microplastics. whether in drinking water, surface water, ground water.

01:32:00.000 --> 01:32:10.000
Uh, modern environments, wastewater, soil, and air.

01:32:10.000 --> 01:32:17.000
Sorry. Um…

01:32:17.000 --> 01:32:27.000
In order to keep as much as, uh… material out of landfill as possible, it is important for each of us.

01:32:27.000 --> 01:32:38.000
Uh, to do our part. Uh, one of the ways to put this plan into action is to apply a best management hierarchy.

01:32:38.000 --> 01:32:48.000
as guidance for managing plastics. The United States Environmental Protection Agency.

01:32:48.000 --> 01:32:55.000
created a waste management hierarchy that categorizes the steps necessary to manage.

01:32:55.000 --> 01:33:03.000
The microplastics to benefit people and reduces the impact on the environment.

01:33:03.000 --> 01:33:15.000
As you can see on the. On the screen, um… upside-down triangle, kind of. The most preferred method of the best management is.

01:33:15.000 --> 01:33:23.000
source reduction and reuse. Uh, that follows recycling and composting.

01:33:23.000 --> 01:33:31.000
After done, we have energy recovery. The least preferred method for the waste management is.

01:33:31.000 --> 01:33:39.000
treatment and disposal.

01:33:39.000 --> 01:33:49.000
So, let's… let's look at what kind of, um… subjects we have under… under Section 6.

01:33:49.000 --> 01:33:57.000
In our online guidance document. Mitigation and prevention strategies are.

01:33:57.000 --> 01:34:01.000
Organized in for. general topic areas.

01:34:01.000 --> 01:34:09.000
Section 611, uh… gives information about reducing.

01:34:09.000 --> 01:34:23.000
Uh, plastic packaging and increasing plastic reuse. And we have improving production efficiency under Section 612, including life cycle assessment.

01:34:23.000 --> 01:34:30.000
And alternative analysis of plastic product and material substitutions.

01:34:30.000 --> 01:34:38.000
To prevent regrettable solutions. And under Section 613.

01:34:38.000 --> 01:34:44.000
Uh, we are talking about reducing the consumption of plastic products.

01:34:44.000 --> 01:34:49.000
By reducing their appeal to. Consumers, especially.

01:34:49.000 --> 01:34:56.000
Through, uh, education. The last one, section 614.

01:34:56.000 --> 01:35:01.000
Uh, it is about improving the disposal of waste and.

01:35:01.000 --> 01:35:18.000
advocating for recycling and recovery of. plastics waste. So, these strategies are really, really important improving plastic sustainability throughout the life cycle.

01:35:18.000 --> 01:35:31.000
Um, what is life cycle assessment? Lifecycle assessment is a tool used to assess the environmental impact of a product or process.

01:35:31.000 --> 01:35:36.000
from beginning to end. Uh, and identify.

01:35:36.000 --> 01:35:42.000
Uh, strategic improvement opportunities, uh, such as sustainable solutions.

01:35:42.000 --> 01:35:50.000
To avoid regrettable substitutions, social and supply chain impacts.

01:35:50.000 --> 01:35:59.000
The use of plastics. Uh, can be… Reduced by using alternative.

01:35:59.000 --> 01:36:12.000
Uh, recycled or non-plastic biodegradable materials. Improving the design to reduce the amount of plastic use, extend product life.

01:36:12.000 --> 01:36:22.000
Allow repair and reuse. And improve recyclability by limiting the number of polymers, additives, and mixtures.

01:36:22.000 --> 01:36:28.000
And, uh, last one is bending some certain types of.

01:36:28.000 --> 01:36:39.000
single-use plastics, of course. Uh, as you can see on the, uh, on the screen, this figure shows the life cycle assessments, uh, stages.

01:36:39.000 --> 01:36:46.000
In the 3D printing process chain. Uh, for additive manufacturing.

01:36:46.000 --> 01:37:00.000
Considering the different specificity of this manufacturing processes. A broad field of opportunities emerges, actually, to develop more sustainable means of.

01:37:00.000 --> 01:37:11.000
production of different levels of chain values. Uh, this shift goes from design and manufacturing optimization, um.

01:37:11.000 --> 01:37:18.000
for the… for example, part and assembly. Until the synthesis of advanced materials.

01:37:18.000 --> 01:37:26.000
into the final product.

01:37:26.000 --> 01:37:38.000
So, uh, the worldwide microplastic contamination issues, uh, can only be controlled by incorporating responsible and sustainable.

01:37:38.000 --> 01:37:50.000
practices into the production, use, and this disposition of different plastic materials, as I mentioned earlier. Significant reduction is in.

01:37:50.000 --> 01:37:56.000
plastic consumption and waste generation. Can be achieved through.

01:37:56.000 --> 01:38:01.000
product substitution. And, of course, education.

01:38:01.000 --> 01:38:09.000
Um, as shown in this figure. The details of reducing plastic consumption.

01:38:09.000 --> 01:38:23.000
can be found in section. 613 of the guidance document.

01:38:23.000 --> 01:38:32.000
So, um… how we can improve the best disposal.

01:38:32.000 --> 01:38:40.000
Um… of the… plastics, uh, when you think about it, this can only be achieved through.

01:38:40.000 --> 01:38:51.000
Um, performing some global initiatives that involve education. And buy in on waste minimization practices.

01:38:51.000 --> 01:38:59.000
Expanded collection. uh, services for reuse, recycling and disposal.

01:38:59.000 --> 01:39:05.000
Reduce production of. Non-reusable and non-recyclable materials.

01:39:05.000 --> 01:39:12.000
And, uh, of course, further improvements to recycling processes.

01:39:12.000 --> 01:39:21.000
North American and European countries typically have organized public or private waste collection services.

01:39:21.000 --> 01:39:26.000
But a large of the world's population. Unfortunately, does not.

01:39:26.000 --> 01:39:34.000
have access to an organized collection of waste for disposal at properly designated landfills.

01:39:34.000 --> 01:39:41.000
And even less for recycling, for which options are often.

01:39:41.000 --> 01:39:48.000
not affordable or not available. Uh, there are several options for managing.

01:39:48.000 --> 01:39:55.000
plastic waste, um… As you can see on the screen, we listed as, like.

01:39:55.000 --> 01:40:03.000
Source collection and post-separation disposal. Uh, reuse or, uh, repurposing.

01:40:03.000 --> 01:40:11.000
This energy and fit stock. Landfilling, bio-based and biodegradable plastic alternatives.

01:40:11.000 --> 01:40:20.000
Electronic waste recycling and enhancing distribution, storage, transportation. And stormwater control.

01:40:20.000 --> 01:40:28.000
But I would like to mention that. Um, regarding the bio-based and biodegradable plastics.

01:40:28.000 --> 01:40:38.000
Um, being bio-based. does not make it any more biodegradable or any less likely to create microplastics.

01:40:38.000 --> 01:40:48.000
These products are recyclable through the normal recycling pathways.

01:40:48.000 --> 01:40:57.000
So, um… That wraps up my, uh, first part of the presentation regarding prevention and mitigation.

01:40:57.000 --> 01:41:03.000
Uh, before we move into discussing remediation technologies, I would like everyone to use.

01:41:03.000 --> 01:41:10.000
Uh, the chat function to comment one thing that can be done to reduce microplastics.

01:41:10.000 --> 01:41:16.000
intake. Let's give us a just 20 seconds for that.

01:41:16.000 --> 01:41:29.000
Thank you.

01:41:29.000 --> 01:41:38.000
I can see lots of nice ideas, like. Um… Do not microwave.

01:41:38.000 --> 01:41:47.000
Buy real clothing materials.

01:41:47.000 --> 01:41:52.000
reusable glass. Yeah, there are lots of.

01:41:52.000 --> 01:42:02.000
Nice ideas that I can… I can see. Um, here's another.

01:42:02.000 --> 01:42:08.000
Potential. action that.

01:42:08.000 --> 01:42:13.000
Can be done, or already they perform this study anyway.

01:42:13.000 --> 01:42:22.000
This is a case study where the installation of washing machine filters.

01:42:22.000 --> 01:42:30.000
shown to significantly reduce the number of microfibers reaching wastewater treatment plants in a.

01:42:30.000 --> 01:42:40.000
community in Ontario, Canada. Um, you can find the details of this case study in Appendix A6 of our guidance.

01:42:40.000 --> 01:42:47.000
guidance documents.

01:42:47.000 --> 01:42:53.000
No, we will be moving on the abatement portion.

01:42:53.000 --> 01:42:58.000
If I can move… It seems like my.

01:42:58.000 --> 01:43:05.000
Doesn't work. What's happening?

01:43:05.000 --> 01:43:11.000
Okay. Right now, I think I move it, um… So the…

01:43:11.000 --> 01:43:17.000
Yeah, Yasmin, that was, um… sorry, that was me. Would you like me to move them for the rest of the…

01:43:17.000 --> 01:43:19.000
Yeah, I think it's gonna be better. I think I have some problem with internet connections, probably.

01:43:19.000 --> 01:43:26.000
Okay, yep, I got you.

01:43:26.000 --> 01:43:42.000
Thank you. So, now we will be moving the abatement portion of my presentation. We described the treatment technologies in the guidance documents under the section 621 through section.

01:43:42.000 --> 01:43:53.000
624. This, uh… These are organized by media based on the degree of development and implementation.

01:43:53.000 --> 01:44:01.000
as well as also confidence in the technology based on peer-related literature and professional judgment of the.

01:44:01.000 --> 01:44:11.000
Others, um, we use two levels of implementation. Confidence, which are, uh, field implemented, uh, technologies.

01:44:11.000 --> 01:44:22.000
And developing technologies. If implemented technologies are technologies that have been demonstrated under full-scale conditions at.

01:44:22.000 --> 01:44:33.000
Multiple sites by multiple practitioners and multiple applications. And are well documented in practice or period literature.

01:44:33.000 --> 01:44:42.000
Uh, this water treatment plants and drinking water treatment plants are some of examples for the field implemented technologies.

01:44:42.000 --> 01:44:49.000
Developing technologies are technologies that have been researched at the laboratory.

01:44:49.000 --> 01:44:53.000
Or band scale, but have not been field demonstrated.

01:44:53.000 --> 01:44:58.000
Often, these results are reported by only one group.

01:44:58.000 --> 01:45:04.000
Or lack detailed validation of the treatment effectiveness or mechanisms.

01:45:04.000 --> 01:45:13.000
Um, for example, acoustic focusing, electrochemical oxidation, magnetic extraction are some of examples for.

01:45:13.000 --> 01:45:21.000
developing technologies. Uh, next slide, please.

01:45:21.000 --> 01:45:28.000
Um, this is a figure 65, uh, from our, uh, microplastic guidance document.

01:45:28.000 --> 01:45:41.000
Uh, because, uh, wastewater treatment plants are… we have lots of study from the wastewater treatment plant, so we… we wanted to use water treatment plant as an example for.

01:45:41.000 --> 01:45:52.000
Uh, this, this meeting. So, this, uh, flow diagram shows a conceptual estimation of microplastic removal.

01:45:52.000 --> 01:45:58.000
And also retention in different stages of wastewater treatment plants.

01:45:58.000 --> 01:46:05.000
Um, the different stages, uh, include primary, uh, preliminary.

01:46:05.000 --> 01:46:12.000
primary, uh, treatments such as grid chamber, grease removal, primary settling tank.

01:46:12.000 --> 01:46:21.000
Um, secondary treatment, such as activated sludge reactors, bioreactors, and secondary clarifiers.

01:46:21.000 --> 01:46:28.000
And, uh, at the end, we have tertiary treatments, such as disk filter, granular filter.

01:46:28.000 --> 01:46:39.000
lipidation, membrane disc filter, coagulation, and folliculation. Um, as you can see on this figure.

01:46:39.000 --> 01:46:47.000
Removal efficiencies. In the individual treatment stages range, uh, from.

01:46:47.000 --> 01:46:55.000
2 to 75%. But, uh, when combined… when you combine all stages together.

01:46:55.000 --> 01:47:05.000
Uh, 94 to 99% of. Uh, microplastic removal was absorbed for a combination of.

01:47:05.000 --> 01:47:19.000
primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment processes. Uh, next slide, please.

01:47:19.000 --> 01:47:27.000
Um, indeed. guidance document, uh, under the Section 6.

01:47:27.000 --> 01:47:36.000
There are only two tables, tables 63 and Table 6-4, showing the treatment technologies, uh, by media.

01:47:36.000 --> 01:47:42.000
Uh, table 63 provides a summary of potential treatment technologies for.

01:47:42.000 --> 01:47:48.000
Removing microplastic from. Uh, drinking water, surface water.

01:47:48.000 --> 01:48:08.000
Uh, groundwater, marine and wastewater. Uh, table 6-4 provides a summary of potential treatment technologies for soil. Unfortunately, there is not able available for air since there are very few studies conducted on atmospheric microplastic only.

01:48:08.000 --> 01:48:11.000
Also, I just want to bring to your attention that.

01:48:11.000 --> 01:48:17.000
The screenshot that we can see is, uh, table 3 is.

01:48:17.000 --> 01:48:25.000
Just a small portion of the very large table that outlines, I think, almost 24 different treatment technologies.

01:48:25.000 --> 01:48:30.000
Next slide, please.

01:48:30.000 --> 01:48:36.000
So just focus on, uh, one of the tables, so how you can use these tables.

01:48:36.000 --> 01:48:48.000
very efficiently. Uh, here we have a closer look, uh… At 6… table 6-4, which covers potential treatment technologies for soil.

01:48:48.000 --> 01:48:56.000
When we look at the first column. Can you click, uh, please, uh, when we look at the first column from left.

01:48:56.000 --> 01:49:03.000
Shows the treatment category if it is biological, chemical, or physical.

01:49:03.000 --> 01:49:11.000
Uh, this is followed with treatment technology. When you look at the, uh, top of the.

01:49:11.000 --> 01:49:21.000
role, uh, treatment technology, media. advantages and efficiencies, and at the end, we have references.

01:49:21.000 --> 01:49:29.000
Uh…

01:49:29.000 --> 01:49:35.000
of arrows. These arrows are showing… can you click again, please, to show the arrows?

01:49:35.000 --> 01:49:45.000
This arrows here are showing. have, uh, have the table indicates if treatment technology is a developing technology.

01:49:45.000 --> 01:49:56.000
or field implementing technology. Also, uh, it is important to note that, uh, the removal efficiencies.

01:49:56.000 --> 01:50:04.000
Uh, efficiency percentages, excuse me. shown on this table are based on laboratory studies that.

01:50:04.000 --> 01:50:11.000
have not been fully implemented in the, in the field.

01:50:11.000 --> 01:50:23.000
Next slide, please. Let's wrap up what, uh, we… Uh, venture together regarding the mitigation and abatement.

01:50:23.000 --> 01:50:31.000
Um, source reduction to reduce microplastic in the environment is really critical.

01:50:31.000 --> 01:50:37.000
In order to minimize the negative impacts. from plastic pollution.

01:50:37.000 --> 01:50:45.000
Different stages would have to be considered simultaneously. not only reduction in the use of plastics.

01:50:45.000 --> 01:50:53.000
And their replacement by other alternatives, such as cardboard or biodegradable polymers.

01:50:53.000 --> 01:51:02.000
but also a co-design environmental education. Improvements in invest management and others are really important.

01:51:02.000 --> 01:51:07.000
Based on the literature review, including these studies that.

01:51:07.000 --> 01:51:15.000
we did go over today, it is obvious that existing treatment technologies, um.

01:51:15.000 --> 01:51:20.000
That's implemented in the… either wastewater treatment plant or drinking water.

01:51:20.000 --> 01:51:27.000
Treatment plant, they have been showing. different success to reduce or remove microplastics.

01:51:27.000 --> 01:51:32.000
It is also very important to consider management of waste.

01:51:32.000 --> 01:51:45.000
Produced during the treatment of microplastics. Uh, this is the end of my presentation right now. I am turning over Todd Miller from Gene.

01:51:45.000 --> 01:51:49.000
Kennedy Jacks to rip up today's training. Thank you.

01:51:49.000 --> 01:51:58.000
Thank you, Yasmeen. Uh, before we get on to the final Q&A session, uh, just going to provide a brief wrap-up of what we covered today.

01:51:58.000 --> 01:52:03.000
Uh, excuse me.

01:52:03.000 --> 01:52:13.000
Uh, just a brief reminder that the guidance document is a web-based document that can be found on the ITR website, and the URL is shown here.

01:52:13.000 --> 01:52:20.000
Uh, in the… in the introductory section, we presented the definition for microplastics and why we should care about them.

01:52:20.000 --> 01:52:26.000
They're ubiquitous and persistent in the environment. They contain harmful chemicals.

01:52:26.000 --> 01:52:31.000
And they're consumed by animals and humans, resulting in potential health and environmental impacts.

01:52:31.000 --> 01:52:35.000
In the fate and transport section, we describe primary and secondary sources.

01:52:35.000 --> 01:52:40.000
how microplastics are released into the environment. How they are transported and where they end up.

01:52:40.000 --> 01:52:49.000
And various degradation pathways. And the sampling analysis portion of the training, we describe the state of the science before sampling and analyzing microplastics.

01:52:49.000 --> 01:52:53.000
As well as concerns that can impact the results.

01:52:53.000 --> 01:52:59.000
During the Human Health and Ecological Effects portion, we describe pathways for human and ecological exposure.

01:52:59.000 --> 01:53:03.000
The challenges of reviewing and comparing microplastic study results.

01:53:03.000 --> 01:53:07.000
how particle size and chemical makeup play key roles in the effects.

01:53:07.000 --> 01:53:11.000
And briefly presented tools available to evaluate health risks.

01:53:11.000 --> 01:53:17.000
In the current regulation section, we presented the key results to the ITRC Group's poll of 25 states.

01:53:17.000 --> 01:53:22.000
Which showed at the time of the study, only 3 states had sampled for microplastics.

01:53:22.000 --> 01:53:27.000
And no states had regulatory criteria. Several are considering some form.

01:53:27.000 --> 01:53:35.000
During the mitigation and abatement portion, we discussed best management practices that focused on keeping plastics out of the environment.

01:53:35.000 --> 01:53:41.000
By reducing the use and developing alternative products. Educating the public on alternatives.

01:53:41.000 --> 01:53:46.000
And improving recycling.

01:53:46.000 --> 01:53:57.000
As a reminder, throughout the document, you'll see this CSM figure. In the introduction section, clicking on each of the dots will bring up a short description of how microplastics are found in the environment.

01:53:57.000 --> 01:54:06.000
In subsequent sections, these dots will link you to associated sections of the text.

01:54:06.000 --> 01:54:12.000
Section 7 of the document describes data gaps regarding microplastics knowledge and or information.

01:54:12.000 --> 01:54:18.000
Uh, faint transport, uh, the fact that microplastics are found nearly everywhere we look.

01:54:18.000 --> 01:54:28.000
But the transport mechanisms are only partially understood. For sampling analysis, there's a need for better reference standards, better identical instruments, and lower costs.

01:54:28.000 --> 01:54:33.000
Health risks, impacts to human health and the environment are not well understood.

01:54:33.000 --> 01:54:43.000
Additionally, how changes in physical… of the physical and chemical structural microplastics can impact our ability to fully assess the risks.

01:54:43.000 --> 01:54:51.000
For trophic transfer, there's a large need to better understand the impact that size and shape have on how microplastics move through the food web.

01:54:51.000 --> 01:54:56.000
And for mitigation abatement, the need for replacement products.

01:54:56.000 --> 01:55:03.000
As well as better practices to control and remove microplastics from the environment.

01:55:03.000 --> 01:55:09.000
There are 6 case studies featured in Appendix A of the Microplastics guidance document.

01:55:09.000 --> 01:55:15.000
case study one is a California approach for microplastics, which describes the legislation and other activities that.

01:55:15.000 --> 01:55:20.000
the state of California is, uh, taking related to microplastics.

01:55:20.000 --> 01:55:29.000
Number two is consequences of microplastics on various ecological endpoints in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributary estuary, the Potomac River.

01:55:29.000 --> 01:55:35.000
This case study focuses on the effects of microplastics on 3 organisms found in the Chesapeake Bay, the hooked muscle.

01:55:35.000 --> 01:55:44.000
Blue Crab and the striped bass. case study 3 is the impacts of disposable PPE and single-use plastics during the COVID-19 pandemic.

01:55:44.000 --> 01:55:51.000
which explored the effects of increased single-use plastics-related COVID-19 pandemic.

01:55:51.000 --> 01:55:59.000
case study 4 was NERDLs along the Gulf Coast, which describes a notable spill of plastic noodles into the Mississippi River.

01:55:59.000 --> 01:56:04.000
Uh, number 5 is effects of 6PD quinone on coho and chum salmon.

01:56:04.000 --> 01:56:11.000
This case study presents an evaluation of the tire wear particles' impact on acute mortality in coho and chum salmon.

01:56:11.000 --> 01:56:19.000
and details mitigation effects, uh, excuse me, mitigation efforts to decrease the transport of tire war particles to surface.

01:56:19.000 --> 01:56:24.000
And Case Study 6 is washing machine filters reduce microfiber emissions to aquatic ecosystems.

01:56:24.000 --> 01:56:29.000
which describes a policy brief prepared by Toronto Canada.

01:56:29.000 --> 01:56:38.000
We hope that you take time to review these case studies to gain more information.

01:56:38.000 --> 01:56:45.000
I'd like to bring everyone's attention to the ITRC team that started in February 2023, referred to as the Microplastics Outreach Toolkit.

01:56:45.000 --> 01:56:49.000
The team utilized the information contained in the ITRC Microplastics guidance document.

01:56:49.000 --> 01:56:56.000
to create an outreach toolkit that contains products such as downloadable fact sheets and social media campaigns.

01:56:56.000 --> 01:57:03.000
And to provide clear communication to the public about the extent of the problems presented by microplastics.

01:57:03.000 --> 01:57:07.000
how people and our environment are being affected by microplastics.

01:57:07.000 --> 01:57:10.000
And what citizens can do to help reduce microplastics.

01:57:10.000 --> 01:57:17.000
It's our hope that the microplastics outreach Team Toolkit will provide valuable resources for environmental professionals to engage.

01:57:17.000 --> 01:57:27.000
with… and educate clients. regulators and the public about microplastics.

01:57:27.000 --> 01:57:35.000
This slide presents a few of examples from the outreach toolkit.

01:57:35.000 --> 01:57:41.000
And now I'll turn it over to Taylor from ITRCA to facilitate the final Q&A portion of the training.

01:57:41.000 --> 01:57:46.000
All right, thank you, Todd, for wrapping that up for us. Um, and since we are.

01:57:46.000 --> 01:57:55.000
getting close to the top of the hour. I thought I would ask our trainers one question in the Q&A box that was actually asked twice.

01:57:55.000 --> 01:58:01.000
Um, this question was, how should we safely dispose of the microfibers captured, um.

01:58:01.000 --> 01:58:12.000
by those filters, they're referring to the idea of using filters in washing machines.

01:58:12.000 --> 01:58:16.000
That's always a good question. Um, don't use a plastic bag.

01:58:16.000 --> 01:58:25.000
Um… Throwing it in the trash is, you know, the best way to dispose of it.

01:58:25.000 --> 01:58:39.000
But, you know, the ultimate answer is. Uh, any way we can get it in the landfills without it becoming, uh… secondary released through either, you know, windblown transport or, you know, just dropped off a truck.

01:58:39.000 --> 01:58:44.000
Uh, which is always the problem when you're… when you're looking at, uh, you know, trash pickup.

01:58:44.000 --> 01:58:47.000
is going to be a consideration.

01:58:47.000 --> 01:58:55.000
Yeah, also, do not, uh… wash them, you know, otherwise it's gonna, yeah, introduce as a.

01:58:55.000 --> 01:59:05.000
secondary microplastics in the wastewater treatment plant, whatever it calls.

01:59:05.000 --> 01:59:15.000
Alright, thanks, Todd and Yasmin, and since we are a little over 3pm, I will go ahead and wrap up the train today, so thank you all for interacting with our trainers through the Q&A pod.

01:59:15.000 --> 01:59:25.000
And we did try to get to as many questions of yours as we could today. Um, thank you again to our expert trainers for being here and for their contribution to the ITRC document.

01:59:25.000 --> 01:59:29.000
We would like to hear back from you, so please be sure to fill out the online feedback form.

01:59:29.000 --> 01:59:36.000
I did post that in the chat. Um, filling out the feedback form and certifying that you participated will allow you to receive.

01:59:36.000 --> 01:59:51.000
A certificate of completion by email. If you need further clarification on the answers, or would like to ask more questions, feel free to email us at itrc at itrcweb.org, and we will follow up with our trainers to get your questions answered.

01:59:51.000 --> 01:59:54.000
And thank you all again for attending the training today.

01:59:54.000 --> 02:00:24.000
Bye.