Plastic pollution is prevalent worldwide and has been highlighted as an issue of global concern due to its harmful impacts on wildlife. The extent and mechanism by which plastic pollution effects organisms is poorly understood, especially for microplastics. One proposed mechanism by which plastics may exert a harmful effect is through the leaching of additives. To determine the risk to wildlife, the chemical identity and exposure to additives must be established. However, there are few reports with disparate experimental approaches. In contrast, a breadth of knowledge on additive release from plastics is held within the food, pharmaceutical and medical, construction, and waste management industries. This includes standardised methods to perform migration, extraction, and leaching studies. This review provides an overview of the approaches and methods used to characterise additives and their leaching behaviour from plastic pollution. The limitations of these methods are highlighted and compared with industry standardised approaches. Furthermore, an overview of the analytical strategies for the identification and quantification of additives is presented. This work provides a basis for refining current leaching approaches and analytical methods with a view towards understanding the risk of plastic pollution.

塑料污染在全球范围内十分普遍，由于其对野生生物的有害影响，已成为全球关注的问题。人们对塑料污染影响生物的程度和机理了解甚少，尤其是对于微塑料而言。提出的一种塑料可能发挥有害作用的机制是通过浸出添加剂。为了确定对野生生物的风险，必须确定其化学性质和与添加剂的接触。但是，很少有报道采用不同的实验方法。相反，在食品，制药和医疗，建筑和废物管理行业中，掌握了有关塑料中添加剂释放的广泛知识。这包括执行迁移，提取和浸出研究的标准化方法。这篇综述概述了用于表征添加剂及其从塑料污染中浸出行为的方法和方法。这些方法的局限性得到了强调，并与行业标准化方法进行了比较。此外，介绍了识别和定量添加剂的分析策略。这项工作为完善当前的浸出方法和分析方法提供了基础，以期了解塑料污染的风险。