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Assessment of Indoor Microplastics in Settled Dust at a High-Traffic Transit Building: Characterization, Abundance, Polymer Profiling, and Ingestion Exposure
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Researchers found extremely high levels of microplastic dust particles, mostly tiny plastic fibers, settled in a busy Indian train station, with the highest amounts in crowded, non-air-conditioned waiting areas where more foot traffic and open airflow stirred up more contamination. Toddlers face the greatest exposure risk since they tend to ingest more dust relative to their body weight, and their estimated daily intake far exceeded typical at-home exposure levels. While this is just one location, it suggests that busy public transit hubs may be an overlooked source of microplastic exposure worth further study.
High-traffic public buildings are significant yet understudied sources of indoor microplastics (MPs) pollution. This descriptive study characterizes the abundance, morphological distribution, and polymer composition of MPs in settled dust from a high-traffic railway station in Rajkot, India. It provides an initial estimate of human exposure via dust ingestion. Dust samples were collected from diverse microenvironments, such as air-conditioned/non-AC waiting rooms, offices, and parcel offices, processed via density separation, and analyzed using stereomicroscopy for morphological characterization and Micro-Raman spectroscopy for polymer identification. The results revealed high MP contamination of 4,464.11 ± 481.60 MPs/g, dominated by polyethylene terephthalate. Overall, fibers were the dominant morphology (67.15%), with the 200–500 μm size dominating across all particles (37.04%). Principal Component Analysis identified microenvironment specific patterns linked to human activity (e.g., textile shedding), with non-AC waiting rooms showing 30% higher abundance than AC areas, attributed to elevated passenger flow (300 vs. 150 daily visitors) and open ventilation. The parcel office exhibited fragment-enriched and red-colored MPs signatures, mechanistically linked to institutional packaging practices. Estimated daily intake via dust ingestion was highest for toddlers (38.17 MPs/kg body weight/day), substantially exceeding residential exposure levels. These findings provide baseline data on MPs abundance in a major railway station and may be indicative of conditions in similar public transport hubs, highlighting it as a potential site of MPs accumulation and human exposure. This contributes to the limited literature on indoor MPs in high-traffic public buildings and suggests avenues for future multi-site, multi-season research to inform evidence-based mitigation strategies.
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