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Plastic Pollution Reduction and Sustainable Marine Ecosystems

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Pollution Prevention, Mitigation and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2026 | Viewed by 907

Special Issue Editors

Yantai Research Institute, Harbin Engineering University, Yantai, China
Interests: emerging pollutants; AOPs; marine pollution control
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, China
Interests: environmental engineering; coastal water resources and aquatic environment; aquaculture water treatment and recycling technologies; development and utilization of unconventional water resources and ecological security in coastal zones; coastal regional water resource conservation and pollution prevention
School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
Interests: wastewater treatment; ecological remediation; eutrophication control and remediation
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plastics have greatly changed the lifestyles of human beings. However, plastic pollution is becoming a serious threat to various ecosystems. The oceans, as the biggest reservoir of waste, annually receive 8-11 million tons of plastic waste. Therefore, marine sustainability faces significant challenges if no effective strategies are implemented. This Special Issue focuses on the fate of plastics in the marine environment, effective techniques for reducing plastics in the oceans, and risk evaluation for plastics in marine ecosystems. The scope of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following aspects:

  • The environmental behaviors and fate of plastics in the ocean and coastal zone;
  • Effective reduction methods and technology for plastic pollution control in marine environments;
  • The restoration techniques for or cases of plastic-polluted offshore areas;
  • The ecological risks assessment of plastic pollution in marine ecosystems.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to provide comprehensive insights on plastic pollution and control in marine ecosystems for achieving sustainable development.

The literature on plastics in the marine environment is not sufficient to clarify the final fate of plastics and effective control measures. Therefore, this Special Issue will bridge gap between existing research and future research on plastics in marine environments.

Dr. Jun Wu
Dr. Jian Lu
Dr. Yifeng Wu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plastic pollution
  • microplastics
  • environmental behaviors
  • marine ecosystem
  • pollution control
  • advanced oxidation processes
  • adsorption
  • chemical treatment
  • biological treatment

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

15 pages, 3086 KB  
Article
Hydrodynamic Aging Process Altered Benzo(a)pyrene Adsorption on Poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) and Poly(butylene succinate) Microplastics in Seawater
by Xiaotao Liu, Yuexia Feng, Xueting Hua, Jian Lu and Jun Wu
Sustainability 2025, 17(24), 11344; https://doi.org/10.3390/su172411344 - 18 Dec 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 543
Abstract
The environmental behavior of biodegradable plastics under long-term hydrodynamic aging processes in seawater remains poorly understood, although plastic pollution has attracted global concern. This study obtained poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) microplastics that endured 36-month hydrodynamic aging in seawater to elucidate [...] Read more.
The environmental behavior of biodegradable plastics under long-term hydrodynamic aging processes in seawater remains poorly understood, although plastic pollution has attracted global concern. This study obtained poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) and poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) microplastics that endured 36-month hydrodynamic aging in seawater to elucidate their physicochemical transformations and interactions with benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). Hydrodynamic aging markedly altered surface morphology, generated cracks and pores, and enriched -C=O and -OH groups, indicating oxidative degradation. Adsorption experiments showed that BaP adsorption capacity of virgin PBAT/PBS reached 213.3/235.3 μg g−1, while it increased to 233.3/258.2 μg g−1 after hydrodynamic aging in seawater. Elevated salinity and alkaline conditions reduced BaP adsorption on microplastics. Notably, hydrodynamic aging mitigated the risk of BaP desorption from PBAT in ectothermic organisms. Gibbs free energy calculations indicated that the adsorption process was primarily driven by hydrophobic effects, hydrogen bonding, and van der Waals forces. These findings highlight that long-term hydrodynamic aging substantially modifies the interfacial properties of biodegradable plastics to alter their capacity for mediating the environmental fate of hydrophobic organic pollutants in marine ecosystems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Plastic Pollution Reduction and Sustainable Marine Ecosystems)
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