Submicro- and nanoplastics: How much can be expected in water bodies?

Plastic particles smaller than 1 μm are considered to be highly dangerous pollutants due to their ability to penetrate living cells. Model experiments on the toxicity of plastics should be correlated with actual concentrations of plastics in natural water. We simulated the natural destruction of polystyrene, polyvinyl chloride, and poly(methyl methacrylate) in experiments on the abrasion of plastics with small stones. The plastics were dyed in mass with a fluorescent dye, which made it possible to distinguish plastic particles from stone fragments. We found that less than 1% of polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride were converted to submicron size particles. In the case of more rigid poly(methyl methacrylate), the fraction of such particles reaches 11%. The concentration of particles with a diameter less than 1 μm in the model experiments was from 0.7 (polystyrene) to 13 mg/L (poly(methyl methacrylate)), and when transferring the obtained data to real reservoirs, these values should be reduced by several orders of magnitude. These data explain the difficulties associated with the search for nanoplastics in natural waters. The toxicity of such particles to hydrobionts in model experiments was detected for concentrations greater than 1 mg/L, which is unrealistic in nature. Detectable and toxic amounts of nano- and submicron plastic particles in living organisms can be expected only in the case of filter-feeding organisms, such as molluscs, krill, sponges, etc. [Display omitted] •How much nanoplastic can we expect in water bodies?.•Fluorescent staining allowed simulation of plastic abrasion in an aqueous medium.•Concentration of submicrometer particles was from 0.7 (PSt) to 13 mg/L (PMMA).•The data for real reservoirs should be several orders of magnitude lower.•Detectable amount of nanoplastics is expected in filter-feeding organisms only. The actual concentration of nanoplastics in natural waters should be several orders lower than in the model toxicological experiments with hydrobionts.