Dos and do nots when assessing the biodegradation of plastics
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ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEViewpointNEXTDos and Do Nots When Assessing the Biodegradation of PlasticsMichael T. Zumstein*Michael T. ZumsteinSchool of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States*(M.Z.) E-mail: [email protected]More by Michael T. Zumsteinhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-1099-5174, Ramani Narayan*Ramani NarayanDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823, United States*(R.N.) E-mail: [email protected]More by Ramani Narayan, Hans-Peter E. KohlerHans-Peter E. KohlerEnvironmental Biochemistry Group; Environmental Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), 8600 Dübendorf, SwitzerlandMore by Hans-Peter E. Kohler, Kristopher McNeillKristopher McNeillInstitute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, SwitzerlandMore by Kristopher McNeillhttp://orcid.org/0000-0002-2981-2227, and Michael Sander*Michael SanderInstitute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland*(M.S.) E-mail: [email protected]More by Michael Sanderhttp://orcid.org/0000-0003-3383-2041Cite this: Environ. Sci. Technol. 2019, 53, 17, 9967–9969Publication Date (Web):August 16, 2019Publication History Received26 July 2019Published online16 August 2019Published inissue 3 September 2019https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b04513Copyright © 2019 American Chemical SocietyRIGHTS & PERMISSIONSArticle Views11374Altmetric-Citations65LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InReddit PDF (1 MB) Get e-AlertsSUBJECTS:Biodegradation,Biomass,Environmental pollution,Plastics,Soils Get e-Alerts
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Positive experimental results on biodegradation of plastics in one environment do not automatically imply comparable or sufficient biodegradation rates of the same material in another system.
“It is well recognized that positive experimental results on biodegradation of plastics in one environment (e.g. in industrial compost) do not automatically imply comparable or sufficient biodegradation rates of the same material in another system (e.g. in the marine environment) [7, 8].”
From Field and mesocosm methods to test biodegradable plastic film under marine conditions (2020) · cites this paper as [8]
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Cites
A bacterium that degrades and assimilates poly(ethylene terephthalate)
Yoshida, S., Hiraga, K., Takehana, T., Taniguchi, I., Yamaji, H., Maeda, Y., Toyohara, K., Miyamoto, K., Kimura, Y., & Oda, K. (2016) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aad6359 · Cited by 3,367 · see citing works
Zumstein, M. T., Schintlmeister, A., Nelson, T. F., Baumgartner, R., Woebken, D., Wagner, M., Kohler, H.-P. E., McNeill, K., & Sander, M. (2018) · Science Advances · doi:10.1126/sciadv.aas9024 · Cited by 547 · see citing works
Self-citationAlbertsson, A.-C., & Hakkarainen, M. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aap8115 · Cited by 344 · see citing works
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Research works printed but not linked: 1
- Narayan, R.; Biodegradable and Biobased Plastics; In Soil Degradable Bioplastics for a sustainable modern agriculture. M. Malinconico; Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, 2017
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In Situ degradation of biodegradable plastic mulch films in compost and agricultural soils
Sintim, H. Y., Bary, A. I., Hayes, D. G., Wadsworth, L. C., Anunciado, M. B., English, M. E., Bandopadhyay, S., Schaeffer, S. M., DeBruyn, J. M., Miles, C. A., et al. (2020) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138668 · Cited by 377 · see citing works
Polyethylene materials with in-chain ketones from nonalternating catalytic copolymerization
Baur, M., Lin, F., Morgen, T. O., Odenwald, L., & Mecking, S. (2021) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abi8183 · Cited by 284 · see citing works
Field and mesocosm methods to test biodegradable plastic film under marine conditions
Lott, C., Eich, A., Unger, B., Makarow, D., Battagliarin, G., Schlegel, K., Lasut, M. T., & Weber, M. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0236579 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Evaluation of the mulch films biodegradation in soil: A methodological review
Francioni, M., Kishimoto-Mo, A. W., Tsuboi, S., & Hoshino, Y. T. (2022) · Italian Journal of Agronomy · doi:10.4081/ija.2021.1936 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
Analytical tools to assess polymer biodegradation: A critical review and recommendations
Colachis, M., Lilly, J. L., Trigg, E., & Kucharzyk, K. H. (2024) · Science of The Total Environment · doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.176920 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
- Authors
- Zumstein, M. T., Narayan, R., Kohler, H.-P. E., McNeill, K., & Sander, M.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823, United States
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Zumstein, Michael T.
- Sander, Michael
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2019-08-16
- Volume
- 53
- Issue
- 17
- Pages
- 9967-9969
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W2967341733
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 28 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 1
- Type
- other
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.dora.lib4ri.ch
- Licence
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DORA Eawag (Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › biodegradable polymer synthesis and properties
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microbial bioremediation and biosurfactants
- Keywords
- plastic biodegradation, biodegradation assessment, plastic pollution
- MeSH terms
- Biodegradation, Environmental, Plastics
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