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Micro and Nanoplastics in Ecosystems: Interrelated Sources, Risks, Pathways, Consequences, Mitigation, Challenges and Future Recommendations
Summary
This review maps how micro- and nanoplastics travel between soil, water, and air, accumulate in food chains, and affect living organisms, while also examining mitigation strategies including microbial degradation and better waste management. Understanding these interconnected pathways is critical because plastics carry toxic chemical additives that amplify their health risks as they move through ecosystems.
One of the emerging environmental contaminants is micro and nanoplastics (MP/NPs), which are found all over the world. Their extreme durability and the discharge of chemicals and additives employed in the production of plastics could adversely impact living things globally. MP/NPs migrate or disperse from one environmental compartment to another because of the natural interconnection of the terrestrial, atmospheric, and aquatic ecosystems. However, there is still a lack of evidence regarding MP/NPs dispersion throughout environmental compartments and potential effects on living things. This review focuses on the effects of MP/NPs on living organisms after first introducing the dispersion mechanisms of MP/NPs in the environment and their impacts on soil physiochemical properties. The migration behavior of MP/NPs, their long-term accumulation trends, and their occurrence in the food chain are discussed based on the current understanding of these compounds. Finally, the article discussed the difficulties in cleaning up plastic pollution, mitigation strategies such as employing microbes and encouraging environmentally friendly trash disposal techniques, and the significant gaps in MP/NPs investigation that should be addressed in future research.