Time trends of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in East China Seas: Response to the booming of PBDE pollution industry in China

- There was a sharp increase of PBDEs from 1990s in China.
- There were different time trends of PBDEs between developed countries and China.
- Increasing PBDE level was accompanied by the booming of manufacturing industry.
- PBDE emissions from recycling centers of e-wastes were important source.
- Better management of these PBDE-containing products is urgently needed in China.

The East China Seas (ECSs) are the receptors of the land-based persistent organic pollutants (POPs), such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) mainly from China through atmospheric deposition driven by the East Asian winter monsoon and fluvial discharge (e.g., Yangtze River and Yellow River), making the offshore sediments to be a good proxy to reconstruct history of those pollutants in China. In this work, four well-placed sediment cores were extracted from the mud areas in the ECSs, and the 210Pb-dated cores were analyzed to yield historical concentration profiles of PBDEs in the area. The results showed that there was a persistent increase from 1970s and almost no clear sign in the decline of PBDEs until recently in China. More importantly, there was a faster increase of PBDEs from 1990s in China; while this period was just shown as gradually leveling off or even declining trends in developed countries. The persistently increasing trend of PBDEs in China since 1990s could be largely due to the booming of the manufacturing industry and unexpectedly transfer of PBDE pollution from developed countries to China. Besides, the relative high concentrations and fluxes of PBDEs in the core from coastal ECS located near a well-known electrical/electronic waste (e-waste) recycling area suggests an important contribution of PBDE emissions from recycling centers of e-waste in China. Although efforts in environmental monitoring of PBDE contamination have been substantially increased over the last decade, China is still lagging behind in terms of nationwide regulation of PBDE usage and treatment of disposal PBDE-containing products.