Each year, as much as 200,000 to 250,000 metric tons of debris, most notably 20,000 tons in the form of polystyrene (PS) foam , wash up onto the west coast of Japan alone. To clarify chemical contamination due to drifting PS in oceans, 2000 to 2013, 1,500 sand and 230 water samples were obtained every coast line surround Japan were analyzed. Following dichloro methane solvent extraction was carried out, followed by JIS K0450-10-10:2000 was conducted. The target chemicals were SO of the styrene monomer, SM (Fw:104), styrene dimer, SD1 (Fw:208), and styrene trimer, ST (Fw:312) the decomposition product of PS,1,3-diphenylpropane (SD2) corresponding to the SD derivative was determined quantitatively. The recovery was 90.3 to 97.5% in water and 94.7 to 97.8 % in sand, respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD), was always within 7.3. Mean SO contamination value was 500µg/kg in sand, 3µg/L in water surround Japan. Assuming the volume of seawater to be 3.4 × 1014 L and that of sand to be 6.4×1011 kg surrounding Japan, it would follow that in the last 40 years, drifting 1.5 ×107 kg PS has generated 1,000 tons of SO surrounding Japan coastal waters and 200 kg of PS, and that a fraction of 1.5 ×107 kg PS has given rise to 320 tons SO in beach sand. Data currently available on plastics should pave the way for establishing effective means for conserving the global environment.The results clearly show new global contamination by SO generated from the decomposition or elution of marine debris PS.

Monitoring on styrene oligomer derived from debris polystyrene surround Japan and its diffusion to open ocean

255th National Meeting (2018)

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