[Progress in the Study of Occurrence, Distribution, Material Flows, and Environmental Release of Substances of Very...

Plastic additives provide plastics with excellent functions such as plasticizing, flame retardant, and antioxidant properties and are widely used in various plastics. Of these, 189 plastic additives have been included in the European Union's Candidate List of substances of very high concern （SVHCs） due to their potential environmental and health risks. These SVHCs are mainly used in PVC, PUR, and PE plastics and in the packaging, automotive, construction, electronic and electrical equipment, and textile sectors. Plasticizers and flame retardants are the most widely used and therefore the focus of SVHC risk assessment and risk management. Existing studies have carried out material flow analysis （MFA） for SVHCs in plastics, revealing the environmental and health risks of typical flame retardants and plasticizers throughout the product life cycle, such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers （PBDEs）, hexabromocyclododecane （HBCD）, and phthalic acid esters （PAEs）. A large amount of SVHCs enter waste streams at the end of the product life cycle, highlighting the importance of strengthening waste management for SVHCs risk management. In addition to the release of SVHCs from plastic products into the environment, plastic leakage is another important source of environmental release of SVHCs. Plastic debris that have been in the environment for a long time continue to release SVHCs and pose a long-term threat to the ecosystem and human health. In the future potentially hazardous chemicals must be crucially identified in different types of plastics and to assess their environmental release during their life cycle, in particular by establishing a database on hazardous chemicals in plastics and measuring emission factors, optimizing dynamic material flow analysis （d-MFA）, as well as studying the release mechanisms of hazardous chemicals from plastic leakage.