Exploring long-term global environmental impacts of chlorinated paraffins (CPs) in waste: Implications for the Stockholm and Basel Conventions and the global plastic treaty.

Chlorinated paraffins (CPs), mainly short-chain CPs (SCCPs) and medium-chain CPs (MCCPs), are currently the most produced and used industrial chemicals related to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) globally. These chemicals are widely detected in the environment and in the human body. As the release of SCCPs and MCCPs from products represents only a small fraction of their stock in products, the potential long-term release of CPs from a large variety of products at the waste stage has become an issue of great concern. The results of this study showed that, by 2050, SCCPs and MCCPs used between 2000 and 2021 will cumulatively generate 226.49 Mt of CP-containing wastes, comprising 8610.13 kt of SCCPs and MCCPs. Approximately 79.72 Mt of CP-containing wastes is predicted to be generated abroad through the international trade of products using SCCPs and MCCPs. The magnitude, distribution, and growth of CP-containing wastes subject to environmentally sound disposal will depend largely on the relevant provisions of the Stockholm and Basel Conventions and the forthcoming global plastic treaty. According to multiple scenarios synthesizing the provisions of the three conventions, 26.6-101.1 Mt of CP-containing wastes will be subject to environmentally sound disposal as POP wastes, which would pose a great challenge to the waste disposal capacity of China, as well as for countries importing CP-containing products. The additional 5-year exemption period for MCCPs is expected to see an additional 10 Mt of CP-containing wastes subject to environmentally sound disposal. Thus, there is an urgent need to strengthen the Stockholm and Basel Conventions and the global plastic treaty.

Dynamic Source Distribution and Emission Inventory of a Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic (PMT) Substance, Melamine, in China.

Persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) substances are affecting the safety of drinking water and are threatening the environment and human health. Many PMT substances are used in industrial processing or consumer products, but their sources and emissions mostly remain unclear. This study presents a long-term source distribution and emission estimation of melamine, a high-production-volume PMT substance of emerging global concern. The results indicate that in China, approximately 1858.7 kilotonnes (kt) of melamine were released into the water (∼58.9%), air (∼27.0%), and soil systems (∼14.1%) between 1995 and 2020, mainly from its production and use in the decorative panels, textiles, and paper industries. The textile and paper industries have the highest emission-to-consumption ratios, with more than 90% emissions per unit consumption. Sewage treatment plants are the largest source of melamine in the environment for the time being, but in-use products and their wastes will serve as significant melamine sources in the future. The study prompts priority action to control the risk of PMT substances internationally.

[Research Status and Trend Analysis of Environmental and Health Risk and Control of Persistent, Mobile, and Toxic Chemicals].

Persistent, mobile, and toxic or very persistent and very mobile (PMT/vPvM) chemicals have been widely detected in surface water, groundwater, and drinking water around the world and are important emerging contaminants that may significantly affect human health and the environment in the future. According to the identification criteria proposed by the European Union, there are thousands of PMT/vPvM substances in existing chemicals, covering a wide range of applications, including dozens of high-yield industrial chemicals such as melamine. PMT/vPvM chemicals can be discharged into the environment through farmland runoff, industrial wastewater, and domestic sewage, and sewage treatment plants are currently considered to be their main discharge route. It is difficult to effectively remove PMT/vPvM chemicals through the current conventional water treatment technology; they can exist in the water circulation system of the urban human settlement environment for a long time, endangering the safety of drinking water and the ecosystem. The European Union has taken the lead in introducing PMT/vPvM chemicals specifically into the priority areas of the current chemical risk management system. At present, there are still many potential PMT/vPvM chemicals in the environment, and their monitoring methods need to be further improved. It will take time for the identification of substances, the scope of categories, and the establishment of lists. Studies on the environmental fate and exposure of PMT/vPvM in various regions of the world are still very limited, and research on the potential, long-term ecotoxicity, and human health hazard effects remains scarce. At the same time, the research and development of substitute or alternative technologies, as well as environmental engineering treatment technologies such as sewage treatment and contaminated site remediation, will become an urgent need for future PMT/vPvM risk scientific research and management decisions.

Emission and environmental distribution of decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) in China from 2006 to 2026: Retrospection, forecasting, and implications for assessment and management.

Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) is the main alternative to decabromodiphenyl ether (deca-BDE) in commercial use. However, there is increasing evidence show that DBDPE is a potential persistent organic pollutant, and it has been found ubiquitously in environmental media across China in recent years. Monitoring studies have not been able to determine the overall levels and temporal trends of DBDPE contamination in China, and have been unable to explain how emission patterns can affect their environmental distribution. Therefore, this study estimated the temporal variance of DBDPE emissions and environmental concentrations in five regions of China from 2006 to 2026 using the PROduction-To-EXposure (PROTEX) mass balance model. The results showed that Guangdong Province was the greatest DBDPE pollution hotspot in China due to emissions from plastics manufacturing and e-waste disposal; there was also severe pollution in Shandong Province, where almost all the DBDPE in China is produced. The DBDPE concentrations in indoor and outdoor environments increased substantially in all regions during 2006-2021. Furthermore, in Guangdong Province and Shandong Province, the ratio of indoor/outdoor air concentrations was greater than or close to 1, indicative of significant outdoor emission sources of DBDPE. In contrast, the ratios for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, East China, and Southwest China were below 1 due to the indoor use of electronic equipment containing DBDPE. The temporal trends of these ratios indicated that DBDPE contamination has gradually spread from high-concentration environments with strong emission sources to low-concentration environments. The outcomes of this study have important implications for the risk assessment of DBDPE use in China and can be used to establish contamination-mitigation actions.

The spatial-temporal chemical footprint of pesticides in China from 1999 to 2018.

The massive use of pesticides brings considerable environmental and human health impacts. This study conducted an overall assessment of the ecological impact of the extensive pesticide use in China from 1999 to 2018 through the Chemical Footprint (ChF) calculation. The results demonstrated that the primary ecological impacts caused by pesticides occurred in the most central and eastern regions in China, e.g., provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hubei, Anhui, and Jiangsu. The northeastern, some southern and central provinces, e.g., Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Yunnan, Guangxi, Guangdong, Ningxia, and Shaanxi, got moderate impacts, whereas the northwest regions, e.g., Qinghai, Xinjiang, and Tibet, had much lighter impacts relatively. The agricultural soil in inland areas and surface sea waters in coastal provinces bore the major impacts of the pesticide pollution in China, shared above 80% of the ChF across all environmental compartments. Chlorpyrifos, pymetrozine, fenpropathrin, pyridaben, atrazine, etc., were the pesticides that had the greatest impacts on the ecosystem, which contributed over 95% of the total ChF of pesticides used in China, although the use amount of these pesticides accounted for less than 10% of the total use amount of all pesticides annually. The study also indicated that the overall ChF of pesticide use in China has been declining since 2010, which was corresponding with the control actions of highly hazardous pesticides, especially the elimination of high toxic organophosphorus insecticides during the past decade.