Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies a method for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of microparticles of plastic or elastomeric materials in water using a microscopy technique coupled with vibrational spectroscopy.

The aim is to generate reliable and comparable data on the potential presence of microplastics in clean waters with micro-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (μFTIR) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. For simplification, the addressed materials will be named "microplastics" in the document.

The method allows:

• Determination of the size distribution of microplastics (1 μm to 5 000 m);

• Identification of the composition of microplastics by characterizing, the type of polymer (PE, PP, PET, PTFE, PS, PVC, PC, PMMA, elastomers …

The method is applicable to:

• Ultrapure water in accordance with ISO 3696;

• Water intended for human consumption (drinking water);

• Bottled water;

• Untreated groundwater.

NOTE: Given the very low concentrations usually present in these waters, special attention should be paid to possible sources of external contamination, especially from the laboratory itself.

Purpose

Microplastic and micro-elastomer pollution is a global phenomenon challenge calling for cross environmental- media and cross-material questions which can only be solved through overarching cooperation. There is a need to better understand microplastics (including nanoplastic) presence in the environment, how they degrade and move through the environment (air, soil, sludge) and in particular in water, and what the impacts may be, including on humans (through exposition by food, air and drinking water). Even if microplastics are recognized as emerging contaminant in the environment, much of the published data is dubious. Many scientists say they can measure it but few feel the need to prove that they measure correctly, allowing comparable results through quality and method validation. The World Health Organization (WHO) concluded about limited number of high quality studies that standardization of microplastics analysis in water is needed (Koelmans et al., 2019). Therefore, there is a strong need for improving collaboration and expanding information exchange among the different CEN / ISO groups and all relevant organizations and institutional bodies (e.g. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), OSPAR, WHO, EC etc.) dealing with environmental issues and testing technologies relevant to microplastics. OECD, WHO and recently the G7 Ministers and Members of the European Commission in charge of the Environment, met in France in May 2019, emphasizing cooperation and standardization needs of this matters of microplastics.

A starting point is an international dialog to standardize and harmonize sampling and qualifying/quantifying protocols.