The exponential growth in plastic production and usage has escalated global concerns about plastic pollution, particularly regarding harmful chemical additives. Understanding the anthropogenic cycles of these additives is the prerequisite to developing effective strategies for plastic pollution control and a toxics-free circular economy. Here we analyze 269 anthropogenic cycles of plastic additives by reviewing 42 extant academic articles to identify research gaps and needs. Based on their characteristics and the available knowledge, we classify these plastic additives into five research priority levels, with 3,116 designated as “urgent level”, further subgrouped into 17, 14, and 20 additive categories considering their functions, polymer types, and application sectors, respectively, to inform future investigations. Four key research gaps are highlighted: limited research coverage for hazardous chemical additives, lack of specificity to plastic products, incomplete consideration of life cycle stages and relevant flows, and insufficient attention to policy implications. To close these gaps, we recommend expanding the scope of plastic additives with a specific focus on urgent-level cases, exploring all chemical flows tailored to various plastic types, enhancing the quality and accessibility of relevant data, and fostering a mechanism for strong science-policy-society interactions on the management of plastic additives. This review offers a roadmap for advancing research on material flow analysis of plastic additives and sustainable plastic management.

中文翻译：

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塑料中化学添加剂的物质流动分析：批判性综述


塑料生产和使用的指数级增长加剧了全球对塑料污染的担忧，尤其是对有害化学添加剂的担忧。了解这些添加剂的人为循环是制定有效的塑料污染控制和无毒循环经济策略的先决条件。在这里，我们通过回顾 269 篇现存的学术文章来分析 42 种人为塑料添加剂循环，以确定研究差距和需求。根据它们的特性和现有知识，我们将这些塑料添加剂分为五个研究重点级别，其中 3,116 个被指定为“紧急级别”，进一步细分为 17、14 和 20 个添加剂类别，分别考虑它们的功能、聚合物类型和应用领域，为未来的研究提供信息。突出了四个关键的研究差距：危险化学添加剂的研究覆盖面有限，对塑料产品缺乏特异性，对生命周期阶段和相关流程的考虑不完整，以及对政策影响的关注不足。为了缩小这些差距，我们建议扩大塑料添加剂的范围，特别关注紧急案例，探索针对各种塑料类型的所有化学流程，提高相关数据的质量和可访问性，并建立一个在塑料添加剂管理方面进行强有力的科学-政策-社会互动的机制。这篇综述为推进塑料添加剂的材料流动分析和可持续塑料管理的研究提供了路线图。