Author(s)

Marim Elkashlan¹, Vijo Poulose¹, Rana Zeeshan Habib², Obaida Karabala¹, Afnan Aldhanhani¹, Maryam Shakir¹, Heba Shaath¹, Tholkappiyan Ramachandran³, Abdel-Hamid Ismail Mourad³, Fathalla Hamed⁴, Ruwaya Al Kendi², Thies Thiemann^1*

¹Department of Chemistry, College of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
²Department of Biology, College of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
³Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, College of Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.
⁴Department of Physics, College of Science, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates.

In order to find out whether any toothpastes commercially available in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) carry microplastic content in form of plastic microbeads, the filterable solid contents of 31 toothpastes from UAE markets and 2 toothpastes imported from Syria were analyzed. FT-IR studies of the solids revealed that the major solid components were hydrated silica and calcium carbonate, where the individual toothpaste product exhibited either one or the other as the dominant constituent. Titrimetric analysis of the alkalinity of the ash of the toothpastes was carried out. The solids, ashed at 600°C were subjected to FT-IR and EDS (energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopic) analysis. The ash of some of the products was shown to have TiO₂ and Ca₃ (PO₄)₂ as minor components. Mostly organic dyes were used as colorants; however, iron oxide (Fe₂O₃) was also found. Importantly, none of the toothpastes carried any solid microplastic particles. Only 3 toothpastes carried microbeads at all, which were made of either silica or microcrystalline cellulose. This finding indicates that toothpastes, at least in the UAE, are no longer a significant source of microplastic in the environment. The results were compared to a toothpaste bought through the internet with a formulation from 2014, which exhibited polythene microplastic at 1.31 ± 0.39 w% of the filterable solid content.

Toothpastes, Formulation, Microplastic, Plastic Pollution, Colorants

Elkashlan, M. , Poulose, V. , Habib, R. , Karabala, O. , Aldhanhani, A. , Shakir, M. , Shaath, H. , Ramachandran, T. , Mourad, A. , Hamed, F. , Kendi, R. and Thiemann, T. (2022) Analysis of the Solid Contents of Toothpastes Available in UAE (United Arab Emirates) Markets. Journal of Environmental Protection, 13, 539-556. doi: 10.4236/jep.2022.137034.