Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Environment

0553119 - ÚFP 2022 RIV US eng M - Monography Chapter
Lopez Nino, Brenda Natalia - Jeremiáš, Michal
Persistent Organic Pollutants Used for Industrial Purposes: Origins in the Environment.
Persistent Organic Pollutants in the Environment. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2021, s. 55-81. ISBN 9781003053170
Institutional support: RVO:61389021
Keywords : organic pollutants * environment * POPs
OECD category: Energy and fuels
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.1201/9781003053170-3-3/persistent-organic-pollutants-used-industrial-purposes-origins-environment-brenda-natalia-l%C3%B3pez-ni%C3%B1o-michal-jeremi%C3%A1%C5%A1?context=ubx&refId=8f8571fd-cfec-473b-ba61-df3f9f5ef2af

The POPs used for industrial purposes included in the Stockholm Convention are used to improve the performance features of polymers, mainly their flame retardancy. They are used principally in three sectors, electrical and electronic equipment, building and home, and transportation. Three of them are still produced under production exemptions of the Convention. The intentional occurrence of the POPs goes through the stages of production, use, dismantling, recycling, and disposal. In each of them, the POPs could be released to environmental matrices and enter the food chain. Apart from their ingestion, they also represent exposure risk by inhalation and dermal contact. The unintentional occurrence happens when the POPs are found in articles that were supposed not to contain them (e.g., toys, kitchen utensils). This occurrence happens when the recycling has been carried out without the segregation of the plastics containing POPs. The treatments indicated by the Basel Convention for polluted plastics should accomplish a destructive and irreversible transformation. Therefore, the plastics' segregation is essential to reach clean recycling on one side and to destroy the POPs on the other. Although, the individual exposure to the POPs by inhalation, dermal contact, or ingestion could not represent a risk for human health. It should be essential to pay attention to the sum of exposure from different sources.
Permanent Link: http://hdl.handle.net/11104/0328127