We all know plastic is a versatile and prolific material and nearly every product we use has plastic in it in one form or another. The issue is that disposal and recycling pathways have been largely overlooked, and a great proportion of plastic waste is released into the environment where it degrades into Microplastics.
Microplastics pose significant ecological and health concerns due to their environmental persistence. They are known to impact wildlife, water quality, and even human health through the accumulation of toxic chemicals and the transport of pathogens.
Microplastics in Drinking water has, for the first time in 2020, been defined in legislation by the State Water Resources Control Board for potable water as;
“solid polymeric materials to which chemical additives or other substances may have been added, which are particles which have at least three dimensions that are greater than 1 nm and less than 5,000 micrometres (µm). Polymers that are derived in nature that have not been chemically modified (other than by hydrolysis) are excluded.”
The analysis of Microplastics is particularly challenging as it is a new field of analysis and there are currently limited standard methods. The lack of widely accepted methods and lack of data on microplastics makes it a complex but important issue to address.
Presently, three analysis techniques are being deployed: Microscopy, Spectroscopy (RAMAN/FTIR/LDIR), and Thermal Analysis (Pyrolysis or Thermal Desorption GC-MS), each with their own capabilities and advantages.
The case for accredited testing
In 2019, NATA accredited Member, Eurofins Environment Testing Australia opened its first Microplastic laboratory in Melbourne. At the facility, Laser Direct Infrared (LDIR) Chemical Imaging is utilised to enumerate, chemically analyse, and size the Microplastic particles between 20 and 5000 µm.
Since late 2023 the laboratory has held NATA ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accreditation for its Potable Water matrix, making it the first ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredited microplastics testing facility in Australia.
The LDIR instrument has the same measuring principle to the more widely used FTIR. Currently, the most common plastics are analysed including Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Polyvinylchloride (PVC), Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET), Polycarbonate (PC), Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), Polyurethane (PU) and Polyamide (PA) in sample types as: Potable Water (ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Accredited), Environmental Samples (surface water, groundwater, wastewater, sewage, sand, sediment, soil, biosolids, dust & air), Biota Samples (oysters, mussels, fish), Food & Beverage Samples (tea bags, salt, bottled water, infant formula) and Consumer Product Samples (face wash, eye drops)
The laboratory has also participated in three global interlaboratory comparison studies (JRC, SCCWRP and EUROqCHARM) and has been awarded the ALGA Industry Excellence Award in 2022 for Innovation that has Advanced the Practice of Contaminated Site Assessment, Management and/or Remediation.
Within the Eurofins network they can also provide Microplastic analysis by Pyrolysis GC-MS and RAMAN Spectroscopy.
For more information on this testing visit Eurofins Environment Testing Australia – Eurofins Scientific
Source: Eurofins Environment Testing Australia