Pellet Watch : Global Monitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) using Beached Plastic
Resin Pellets.
Hideshige TAKADA1, Yukie MATO1, Satoshi ENDO1, Rei YAMASHITA2, Mohamad Pauzi
ZAKARIA3
1) Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Institute of Symbiotic Science and Technology, Tokyo
University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan.
E-mail : shige@cc.tuat.ac.jp
Tel.: +81-42-367-5825
Fax: +81-42-360-8264
2) Faculty of Fisheries, Hokkaido University, Hakodate, Hokkaido 041-861, Japan.
3) Faculty of Science and Environmental Studies, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, Serdang, Selangor,
Malaysia
What’s plastic resin pellet?
Plastic resin pellets are small granules generally with shape of a cylinder or a disk with adiameter of a few mm. These plastic particles are industrial raw material transported to
manufacturing sites where “user plastics” are made by re-melting and molding into the final products.
Resin pellets can be unintentionally released to the environment, both during manufacturing andtransport. The released resin pellets are carried by surface run-off, stream, and river waters eventuallyto the ocean. Resin pellets can also be directly introduced to the ocean through accidental spills
during shipping.
Because of their environmental persistence, they are distributed widely in the ocean
and found on beaches and on water surfaces all over the world (Carpenter and Smith, 1972; Gregory,
1978; Moore et al., 2001a; Moore et al., 2001b; Derraik, 2002; Moore et al., 2002). A growing
production of plastic leads to a measurable increase in plastic pollution in the ocean. In 2001, we
revealed the existence of various organic micropollutants (i.e., polychlorinated biphenyls : PCBs, DDE,
and nonylphenol) in plastic resin pellets collected from Japanese coasts (Mato et al., 2001).
Since
ever, we have been conducting studies on organic micropollutants in marine plastic resin pellets (Matoet al., 2002; Endo et al., 2005). In the present paper, we will introduce the results of our recent
studies. Also Pellet Watch : Global Monitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) using
Beached Plastic Resin Pellets will be proposed.
Additive-derived pollutants in marine plastic resin pellets
Marine plastic resin pellets carry two types of organic micropollutants (i.e., additive-derived
pollutants and sorbed pollutants). First type includes plastic additives (e.g., anti-oxidants) and their1degradation products.
Nonylphenols (NP) were detected in plastic resin pellets collected fromJapanese coasts. Endocrine disrupting potency of NP has been recently revealed (Jobling et al., 1996)
and distributions, sources, and environmental behavior of NP has been studied by many researchers(Ahel et al., 1994; Bennet and Metcalfe, 1998; Blackburn et al., 1999; Isobe et al., 2001). Plastic
resin pellets were collected from 9 beaches in Japan in 1998 – 2000. The pellets were classified
according to their polymer types (i.e., polyethylene : PE and polypropylene : PP) using near-infrared
spectroscopy (PlaScan-SH, OPT Research Inc. Tokyo, Japan). PE and PP pellets were extracted withdichloromethane (DCM) using Soxhlet extractor and the extracts were purified using silica gel column
chromatography.
NP was determined by gas chromatograph equipped with mass spectrometer (GCMS). Details of analytical conditions were described in Isobe et al. (2001) and Mato et al. (2001).
Concentrations of NP in the plastic resin pellets are shown in Figure 1.
NP concentrations
ranged from 18 ng/g to 17000 ng/g. These concentrations were similar to those observed in bottom
sediments in Tokyo Bay, one of the most polluted bay in the world. NP detected in the plastic resin
pellets is likely to be derived from trisnonylphenol phosphite (TNP), polymer antioxidants, as
shown in Figure 2. TNP antioxidant contains significant amounts of NP as an impurity (Gilbert et al.,1986) and also TNP can be easily oxidized and hydrolyzed to be NP in ambient conditions (Murata,
1999). Nonylphenolpolyethoxylates (NPEO; Fig.2), surface active agents, are also added toplastics and are a potential source of NP in the resin pellets. Figure 1 shows a tendency of PP pellets
to have a higher amount of NP than PE pellets. This is probably because PP requires more additives.
Marine plastic pellets may act as significant source of NP to marine organisms. It is thought thatbiomagnification of NP through the food chain could not be occurring due to theirhydrophilic group and metabolizable nature, although these conclusions have not been wellproved. Several studies suggest that biomagnification may not play an important role totransfer NP, unlike PCBs and DDE, to animals and birds in higher trophic levels (Ahel et al., 1993).
In these contexts, direct ingestion of plastic pellets could be a direct and important route of NP tohigher animals.
Sorption of organic micropollutants on marine plastic resin pellets
Another type of micropollutants in the marine plastic resin pellets is pollutants sorbed fromambient seawater.
Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs), dichloro-diphenyl-dichloroethylene (DDE;
degradation product of organochlorine pesticide), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) weredetected in the marine plastic resin pellets collected from Japanese coasts (Matoet al., 2002). Plastic
resin pellets were collected from 9 beaches in Japan in 1998 – 2000. The resin pellets were classified
into PE and PP by the spectroscopic method and were analyzed for PCBs, DDE, and PAHs using gas
chromatograph equipped with electron capture detector (GC-ECD) and GC-MS following purificationof DCM extracts by two-step silica gel column chromatography. The details of the analyticalprocedure were described in Endo et al. (2005).
Concentrations of PCBs in the resin pellets areshown in Figure 3. The range of PCB concentrations in the pellets was from 5 ng/g to 892 ng/g.
There observed a trend that PE pellets had higher concentrations of PCBs than PP pellets.
Because the surface of the resin pellets is highly hydrophobic, adsorption of PCBs from seawater
onto the pellet surface was likely to be the mechanism of the accumulation of PCBs in the marinepellets. A field adsorption experiment, where virgin plastic pellets were deployed on the sea surface,
was conducted to examine whether plastic pellets can adsorb hydrophobic pollutants from seawater2

(Fig.4).
The experiment was carried out in port of Tokyo Fishery University which is located innorthern head of Tokyo Bay from December 20, 1998 to January 6, 1999. During this period, there
were no rainy or windy days and the sea was calm. Three types of plastic materials were used for theexperiment and were compared in their adsorption. Virgin PE pellets (Suntch LD M 652) and two
types of PP resin pellets (Grandpolymer J104W and J705M) were obtained from polymer companies
and deployed. Our prior analysis showed no significant PCBs (<0.01ng/g) in the virgin pellets.
Approximately 8 g each of the pellets were placed in stainless steel mesh baskets (30 cm diameter and13 cm height) and the baskets were left drifting on the sea surface (Fig.4). Under these conditions,the pellets were in a single layer and could float freely in the basket in full contact with surface
seawater. Three baskets were placed out for each pellet type at the beginning of the experiment, andone basket was recovered on 9 days and 16 days after the deployment. The recovered pellets werestored in glass bottles at –30 ºC in the laboratory.
Just before analysis, the pellets were air-dried in
the clean room for 3 days. Eight g of the dried pellets were analyzed as described above.
Nondeployed virgin pellets were also analyzed along with the sample pellets and considered as Day-0
sample.
The field adsorption experiment results demonstrate that PCBs adsorb to plastic resin pellets fromseawater. During the experiment, PCBs in the deployed pellets showed steady concentration increase
with time (Figure 5; Matoet al. 2002). These increasing trends clearly indicate that ambient seawater
is the source of PCBs found in the marine plastic resin pellets and that adsorption to pellet surfaces is
the mechanism of enrichment. As PE and PP resin pellets are made of saturated hydrocarbon units,
their surfaces are nonpolar and adsorb hydrophobic pollutants such as PCBs through hydrophobic
sorption. Figure 5 also indicated an interesting result that PE pellets adsorbed more PCBs than PP
pellets. This result means a higher affinity of PE pellets for hydrophobic compounds than PP pellets.
The result was consistent with the tendency observed for stranded pellets on beaches, that is, PE pellets
had a higher amount of PCBs than PP pellets, as shown in Figure 3. This difference is probably
caused by the different surface chemistry between PP and PE.
Comparison of PCBs concentrations in marine plastic resin pellets with those in seawatersuggests their high degree of accumulation (apparent adsorption coefficient : 105 - 106). The highaccumulation potential suggests that plastic resin pellets serve as a carrier of toxic chemicals to marine
biota (e.g., seabird) which intakes the plastic resin pellets. Further studies must be done on thetransfer of the chemicals from pellets to biological tissue while they transit through the digestivesystem of birds and other animals. On the other hand, the high accumulation potential of the marine
plastic pellets suggests the potential use of plastic pellets as a tool for monitoring of organic micropollutants in seawater.
In the following sections, their potential for monitoring tool is examinedthrough studying regional differences in PCB concentrations in beached resin pellets.
Regional difference in PCBs concentrations between countries
Beached plastic resin pellets were collected from 11 Japanese coasts and 6 Malaysian coasts(Fig.6). Japan has used larger amounts of PCBs for industrial use than Malaysia and difference in
PCBs contamination has been demonstrated between both coastal environments through various
monitoring. Thus, PCBs concentrations in the beached resin pellets were compared between Japanand Malaysia. The resin pellets were classified according to their polymer types using near-infrared3

spectroscopy (PlaScan-SH, OPT Research Inc. Tokyo, Japan) and PE pellets were subjected to theanalysis of PCBs. Approximately 50 pellets were extracted with DCM and analyzed for PCBs as
described above. As shown in Figure 7, PCB concentrations in PE pellets collected from Japanese
coasts were one to two orders of magnitude higher than those from Malaysian coasts (Matoet al., 2002).
This difference is consistent with regional difference in PCBs concentrations in the indicator organisms(i.e., mussels). Mussel has been used as sentinel organisms to detect marine pollution because of theirnature to accumulate contaminants in their tissue and cosmopolitan habitats. “Mussel Watch”, that ismonitoring of marine pollution using mussel, has been applied worldwide (Goldberg, 1975; Farrington
et al., 1983; Tanabe et al., 2000; Tsutsumi et al., 2002). PCBs concentrations in mussels collected inTokyo Bay (Yamaguchi et al., 2000) were two orders of magnitude higher than those in Malaysia(Monirith et al., 2000), as shown in Figure 7. The regional difference for mussel is well correlatedwith those for PE pellets. The correlation suggests that beached plastic pellets can be used asmonitoring tool of marine pollution.
Piece-by-piece variability in PCB concentrations in a single beach
However, before beached resin pellets will be applied for pollution monitoring, we should
recognize that beached resin pellets have different materials (e.g. polypropylene [PP], polyethylene[PE]), surface conditions (e.g. fouled, weathered), and colors (e.g. clear, discolored, pigmented). Thisimplies that the potential as a sorbent and the history before stranding may vary considerably among
particles. Concentrations of the sorbates in resin pellets could thus vary significantly, even in pellets
collected on a single beach. This piece-by-piece variability on a beach should be taken into accountwhen concentrations of contaminants in the resin pellets from various beaches are compared and theregional variation of the concentrations is discussed. Thus, we investigated the variability of PCB
concentrations among individual resin pellets from a single beach and the relationship of theconcentrations to materials, weathering, fouling, and discoloration of the pellets (Endo et al., 2005).
Sixty resin pellets were collected from a beach in Kasai Seaside Park, Tokyo, in July 2001 forstudying the variation in PCB concentrations between pellets. The pellets were picked up along thehigh tide line within a range of 30 m, using solvent-rinsed stainless steel tweezers. The type ofmaterial, discoloration, fouling, and weathering of the pellets were examined using macroscopic,
spectroscopic, and calorimetric methods and the individual resin pellets were characterized. The
concentrations of PCBs in the individually characterized resin pellets were determined as describedabove.
Of the 60 resin pellets collected from Kasai Seaside Park, 35 were classified as PE and 20 as PP.
These 55 pellets were analyzed individually for sorbed PCBs. The PCB concentrations ranged frombelow the detection limit (i.e., <28 ng/g; 24 pellets) to 2300 ng/g (Figure 8; Endo et al., 2005). The
pellet with the highest concentration accounted for ~50% of the sum of PCBs in the 55 pellets, and the
top 3 pellets comprised ~60% of the total PCBs. The arithmetic mean of PCB concentrations of the 55
pellets was 93 ng/g, and 50 pellets had concentrations less than the mean. These results clearly indicatethat the concentration of sorbates varies considerably (i.e., over 2 orders of magnitude) among thepellets collected from one beach, and that a small proportion of the pellets contains a large proportionof the chemicals. For the application of beached resin pellets as monitoring tool, this variability,
especially occurrence of a few pellets with sporadically high PCBs concentration, should be taken care
4

carefully.
Figure 8 also shows a tendency of PE pellets to have a higher amount of PCBs than PP
pellets. This result is consistent with the results described above. This also suggests that PE pellets are
preferable for the monitoring purpose. We also investigated the relationship of the variability in
PCB concentrations to materials, weathering, fouling, and discoloration of the pellets. Discolored
and/or fouled PE resin pellets had higher concentrations of PCBs than non-discolored and non-fouled
ones, but no clear relationship between crystallinity and weathering with PCB concentrations wasfound. The piece-by-piece analysis of the beached resin pellets suggested that discolored and/or
fouled PE resin pellets are suitable for the application of marine plastic resin pellets to pollution
monitoring, because they had relatively higher concentration of PCBs.
Regional variability in PCB concentrations in plastic resin pellets stranded on 47 beaches inJapan.
To examine the utility of marine resin pellets as monitoring indicators, we studied the regionalvariability in PCB concentrations in plastic resin pellets stranded on 47 beaches in Japan. The resin
pellets were collected from 47 beaches (Figure 9) in 2001 and 2002 in partnership with local volunteers.
The samples were collected from sandy beaches. More than 100 pellets were collected from each beach.
Solvent-rinsed stainless steel tweezers were used to pick up pellets, and the samples were stored in astainless steel container and sent to the laboratory by mail. The resin pellets were classified as PE,
PP, or other by near-infrared spectroscopy (PlaScan-SH, OPT Research Inc. Tokyo, Japan). PE pellets
from each beach were sorted according to discoloration (yellowing) and fouling. Pellets with being
discolored and/or fouled were analyzed for PCBs. Five discolored pellets or 10 fouled pellets werepooled (grouped) and extracted as below, because at least 5 – 10 pellets were necessary to extract
enough amounts of PCBs for reliable analysis of pellets collected from less polluted area than Tokyo
Bay. Multiple pools (groups) from each location were analyzed so that regional PCB concentrations
could be shown as a range, and any high-concentration pellets could be recognized and excluded fromthe mean. The pellets were extracted by maceration in n-hexane for 72 h at 20 ºC. The solvent was
replaced twice during the maceration, and all the extracts were combined. The clean-up procedure andinstrumental analysis were as described above.
While wide ranges of PCB concentrations were recorded from the individual beaches, regional
differences can be also recognized among the beaches (Endo et al., 2005). As can be seen in Figure 10,high PCB concentrations were most frequently found in the pellets from Tokyo Bay and its vicinity andOsaka Bay, whereas low PCB concentrations were found in the Tohoku and Hokkaido region, theregion around the Sea of Japan, and the Pacific Ocean side of Shikoku. This regional difference in
PCBs concentrations in the pellets is consistent with a spatial trend of PCB pollution in otherenvironmental media. Tokyo Bay and Osaka Bay are surrounded by the most industrialized areas inJapan, where large amounts of PCBs were used in the past (i.e., 1960s), polluting the bays and thevicinities with PCBs. In these regions, high concentrations of PCBs are still present in bottom
sediments, seawater, and marine organisms (Japan Coast Guard, 2003; Yamaguchi et al., 2000). On theother hand, the Tohoku and Hokkaido region, the Sea of Japan region, and the Pacific Ocean side of
Shikoku Island are less industrialized, and lower concentrations of PCBs have been reported in
sediments from these areas (Japan Coast Guard, 2003).
In addition to regionally appropriate concentrations, some sporadic high concentrations of PCBs
5

were found in resin pellets from remote islands such as Tanegashima, Shikinejima, and Sadogashima(locations 1, 12, and 42, respectively, in Figure 10). Their concentrations are remarkably higher thanothers from the same regions. This occurrence indicates that contaminant concentrations in ambient
seawater are not the only factor that determines the concentration in resin pellets, and that some otherfactors should be also taken into account. A long residence time on the ocean surface or the presence of
certain additives may have facilitated the adsorption of PCBs from the ambient seawater. In addition,
during their time on the sea, the pellets may have passed close to an industrial area where they may
have sorbed high amounts of PCBs, although their final stranding points were remote. Although thecause of these sporadic high concentrations is still unclear, the occurrence of resin pellets with high
PCB concentrations on remote islands may pose ecotoxicological problems to marine organisms.
Organisms living on the remote islands are normally exposed to low concentrations of PCBs throughseawater and the food web. Resin pellets with extremely high concentrations of PCBs could become
the dominant exposure route of the organisms to PCBs.
For the application of the resin pellets to pollution monitoring, the pellets with sporadic highconcentrations of PCBs can be excluded through calculating median of multiple pools (groups), as
shown in Figure 11. Calculating median successfully eliminated the sporadic high concentration of
PCBs found at st. 1, 12, and 42. The regional pattern in PCBs concentrations in the beached resin
pellets was compared with those for mussels (indictor organisms). Mussels were collected from 24
locations over Japan in 2001 – 2003 and were analyzed for PCBs. The results of our mussel samples
echo this regional trend of PCBs in the beached resin pellets in Japan (Figure 11). Figure 11 indicatesthat the distributions of the concentrations in pellets and mussels are consistent. Through selecting 11
locations where pellets and mussels were collected within 10 km distance, correlation of PCB
concentrations in the pellets with those in the mussel was examined.
Figure 12 also indicates that
PCBs concentrations in PE pellets (median of multiple bulks of discolored/fouled pellets) had goodcorrelation with those in mussels.
Considering that mussels well reflect the concentrations ofhydrophobic organic contaminants in seawater and are therefore used widely around the world formarine pollution monitoring, we can conclude that the degree of pollution in the ambient environmentis one of the most important factors that determine PCB concentrations in resin pellets.

Call for Beached Resin Pellets
Pellet Watch : Global Monitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) using Beached Plastic
Resin Pellets
Based on above discussions, we propose the use of beached resin pellets as a tool to monitor
persistent organic pollutants (e.g., PCBs and organochlorine pesticides) pollution in world coastal
waters, as illustrated in Fig.13. In this project, we call for beached plastic resin pellets.
Throughvarious networks and internet, we will ask world citizens to collect beached resin pellets at nearby
beaches and send them to our laboratory via air mail. More than 100 resin pellets (ideally 200
pellets) per a location are necessary for reliable monitoring. The collected pellets will be sent to ourlaboratory in Tokyo via Air mail.
Discolored and/or fouled PE pellets will be selected by using
spectroscopic method and multiple 10-piece-pools will be extracted are analyzed for organochlorinecompounds (e.g., PCBs) by the method that we developed.
Based on the analytical results, global
POPs pollution will be mapped. The analytical results will be sent to the persons who collected the6samples via internet and released on web. Advantage of Pellet Watch includes extremely low costfor sampling and shipping and easiness to collect samples (i.e., no special training is required forsampling) compared with the existent monitoring media (e.g., water, sediment, biological samples suchas mussel). Collect pellets on your nearby beach and send 100 pellets to Tokyo via air mail!
References
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environment --Ⅱ. Occurrance and transformation in rivers. Water Research 28, 1143-1152.
Ahel, M., McEvoy, J., and Giger, W. (1993) Bioaccumulation of the lipophilic metabolites of nonionic surfactants infreshwaer organisms. Environmental Pollution 79, 243-248.
Bennet, E.R. and Metcalfe, C.D. (1998) Distribution of Alkylphenol compounds in great lakes sediments, United States andCanada. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 17, 1230-1235.
Blackburn, M.A., Kirby, S.J., and Waldock, M.J. (1999) Concentrations of alkylphenol polyethoxylates entering UK
estuaries. Marine Pollution Bulletin 38, 109-118.
Carpenter, E.J. and Smith, K.L.J. (1972) Plastics on the Sargasso Sea Surface. Science 175, 1240-1241.
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842-852.
Endo, S., Takizawa, R., Okuda, K., Takada, H., Chiba, K., Kanehiro, H., Ogi, H., Yamashita, R., and Date, T. (2005)
Concentration of Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in Beached Resin Pellets: Variability among Individual Particles
and Regional Differences. Marine Pollution Bulletin in press,
Farrington, J.W., Goldberg, E.D., Risebrough, R.W., Martin, J.H., and Bowen, V.T. (1983) U.S. "Mussel Watch" 1976-1978:
An overview of the trace-metal, DDE, PCB, Hydrocarbons, and artificial radionuclide data. Environ. Sci. Technol. 17,
490-496.
Gilbert, J., Stain, J.R., and McGuinness, J.D. (1986) Compositional analysis of commercial PVC bottles and studies ofaspects of spesific and overall migration into foods and simulants. Food Additives and Contaminants 3, 133-144.
Goldberg, E.D. (1975) The mussel watch: a first step in global marine monitoring. Marine Pollution Bulletin 6, 111.
Gregory, M.R. (1978) Accumulation and distribution of virgin plastic granules on New Zealand beaches. N.Z. Journal of
Marine and Freshwater Research 12, 399-414.
Isobe, T., Nishiyama, H., Nakashima, A., and Takada, H. (2001) Distribution and behavior of nonylphenol, octylphenol, andnonylphenol monoethoxylate in Tokyo metropolitan area: Their association with aquatic particles and sedimentary
distributions. Environmental science & Technology 35, 1041.
Japan Coast Guard 2003. Report of marine pollution surveys No. 29, results of surveys in 2001., Hydrographic andOceanographic Department, Japan Coast Guard: Tokyo
Jobling, S., Sheahan, D., Osborne, J.A., Matthiessen, P., and Sumpter, J.P. (1996) Inhibitation of testicular growth inrainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) exposed to estrogenic alkylphenolic chemicals. Environmental Toxicology andChemistry 15, 194-202.
Mato, Y., Isobe, T., Takada, H., Kanehiro, H., Ohtake, C., and Kaminuma, T. (2001) Plastic Resin Pellets as a Transport
Medium for Toxic Chemicals in the Marine Environment. Environmental Science and Technology 35, 318-324.
Mato, Y., Takada, H., Zakaria, M.P., Kuriyama, Y., and Kanehiro, H. (2002) toxic chemicals contained in plastic resin pellets
in the marine environment -spatial difference in pollutant concentrations and the effects of resin type-. Kankyo
Kagakukaishi 15, 415-423.
Monirith, I., Nakata, H., Watanabe, M., Takahashi, S., Tanabe, S., and Tana, T.S. (2000) Organochlorine contamination infish and mussels from Cambodia and other Asian countries. Water Science and Technology 42, 241-252.
Moore, C.J., Moore, S.L., Leecaster, M.K., and Weisberg, S.B. (2001a) A Comparison of Plastic and Plankton in the North
Pacific Central Gyre. Marine Pollution Bulletin 42, 1297-1300.
Moore, C.J., Moore, S.L., Weisberg, S.B., Lattin, G.L., and Zellers, A.F. (2002) A comparison of neustonic plastic andzooplankton abundance in southern California's coastal waters. Marine Pollution Bulletin 44, 1035-1038.
Moore, S.L., Gregorio, D., Carreon, M., Weisberg, S.B., and Leecaster, M.K. (2001b) Composition and distribution ofbeach debris in Orange County, California. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 42, 241-245.
Murata, T. (1999) The Endcrine Disruptors Contained in the plastics. Chemical Engineering 63, 305-309.
Tanabe, S., Prudente, M.S., Kan-atireklap, S., and Subramanian, A. (2000) Mussel watch: marine pollution monitoring ofbutyltins and organochlorines in coastal waters of Thailand, Philippines and India. Ocean&Coastal Management 43,
819-839.
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Tsutsumi, S., Yamaguchi, Y., Nishida, I., Akiyama, K.-i., Zakaria, M.P., and Takada, H. (2002) Alkylbenzenes in Mussels
from South and South East Asian Coasts as a Molecular Tool to Assess Sewage Impact. Marine Pollution Bulletin 45,
325-331.
Yamaguchi, Y., Sato, F., Akiyama, K.-i., Kouno, E., Tsutsumi, S., andTakada,H.(2000) Biomonitoring oforganic
micropollutants in coastal zones using mussels -characteristics of accumulated pollutants and the application to
Tokyo Bay-. Chikyukagaku (Geochemistry) 34, 41-57.
C9H19
O

OH

n
C9H19

O

N=3 -18

O

C9H19

P
O

Nonylphenolpolyethoxylates (NPn EO)
Aerobic degradation

C9H19

Trisnonylphenylphosphite (TNP)O

OH
2 or 1

C9H19

Oxidation

Nonylphenoldiethoxylates (NP 2EO)
or Nonylphenolmonoethoxylates (NP1EO)
C9H19

C9H19

Anaerobic degradation
O

OH

O

Fig.1 Nonylphenol concentrations in beachedresin pellets on Japanese coasts

P O
O

C9H19
C9H19

Nonylphenols (NP)

Hydrolysis

OH

+

3

H3PO4

C9H19

Fig. 2 Nonylphenol derived from plastic additives

Fig.3 PCB concentrations in beached resin
pellets on Japanese coasts

Fig.4 Schematic illustration of adsorption
experimentFig.5 Concentration of PCBs in deployed plasticpellets during the field adsorption experiment8

Fig.6 Sampling locations of plastic resin pellets and mussels in 1998 - 2000

Fig.7 PCB concentrations in beached plastic resin pellets (left) and mussels (right).
Red diamonds : Tokyo Bay; black diamonds : the other Japanese locations than Tokyo Bay;blue circles : Malaysia

Fig.8 PCBs concentration in PE and PP resin pellets derived from piece-by-piece analysis.
9140 E

130 E

45 N
X

46
47

11

Osaka
Bay
D

Japan Sea

12

45 W

19

18

13

C

44

H

43

15

10
14

16

F

G

17
E

6

9

8
4
3

I
5
P
Q
R
S
29,N 30
31
34
M

A

1
2

28

21
20

22

Ise Bay
24

23
J
26

35 N

Pacific
Ocean

7,B

SagamiBay

Kasai Seaside Park
Tokyo
Bay
35,T
36,U

33
32,O

38
37,V

39

27

40

25,K,L42

41

Fig.9 Sampling locations of plastic resin pellets and mussels in 2001 – 2003
Numbers : locations of the resin pellets; alphabets : locations for mussels

Fig.10 PCBs concentration in discolored and/or fouled PE resin pellets from 47 Japanese beaches.
Each pool is shown as a plot.

10

Fig.11 PCBs concentration in discolored and/or fouled PE resin pellets from 47 Japanese beaches
and in mussels from 24 Japanese coasts.
Median concentrations are plotted for PE pellets.

Fig.12 Relationship between median concentrations of PCBs in discolored and/or fouled PE resin pellets
and PCBs concentrations in mussels.
11

Global Monitoring of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)
Using Beached Plastic Resin Pellets

Pellet Watch

Call for beached Pellets!

Air MailMore than 100 pieces(~ 200 pieces)per one location

Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Dr. Hideshige Takada,Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology,
Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan
More than 100 pieces (~200 pieces)per one location

SortingPE, discolored or fouled
Analysis for POPs (PCBs, organochlorine pesticides)
by GC-ECD, GC-MS
more than 3 pools of 10 pellets
to exclude sporadic high concentration

Mapping POPs pollution

Example of expected map of
PCBs in beached plastic pellets

Sending the data via Internet to the collectors
lReleasing the results on weblFig.13 Pellet Watch project: Call for beached pellets

12