ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the case study of a life cycle of four substances. These are orthonitrochlorobenzene (ONCB), 1,4-dichlorobenzene, and hexachlorobenzene, and microbeads. Surface water flow may transport microbeads until they degrade, are ingested by organisms, wash up on a shoreline, or perhaps, come to rest in sediments. Plastic microbeads enter domestic sewage when people use cleansers that contain them and wash the residues down the drain. The chapter describes the likely fate of microbeads in a typical wastewater treatment plant and then in the environment. The degree of chlorination and the presence of other functional groups affect their properties, usage, fate and transport in the environment, and (eco)toxicity. Few environmental laws or regulations existed in the United States in the 1950s. A search of the scientific literature and governmental publications suggests that few researchers have studied the occurrence or distribution of ONCB in the environment.
