Intertwined synergistic abiotic and biotic degradation of polypropylene pellets in marine mesocosms.

The accumulation of plastic waste in the oceans has caused growing concern for its effects on marine life. The interactions of plastics with environmental factors have been linked to fragmentation to micro- and nanoparticles with different properties and consequences, but the mechanism of fragmentation has not been fully understood yet. In this work, we investigate the combined effect of marine communities and ultraviolet (UV) radiation towards the degradation of virgin and artificially weathered polypropylene (PP) pellets after a long-term incubation period in marine mesocosms.