Atmospheric Microplastic Pollution, Its Sources and a Case Study: Presence of Microplastics in Indoor and Outdoor Air in Isparta

"Based on the projection results, eleven billion metric tons of plastic debris will accumulate worldwide by 2025. Airborne microplastics are a source of contamination not only for human exposure but also for terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Microplastics can even reach remote areas as a result of long-distance atmospheric transport. In addition, microplastics have the potential to carry persistent organic pollutants with their hydrophobic surfaces. Therefore, exposure to microplastics indoors and outdoors risks human health. For this reason, understanding the sources of atmospheric dispersion of microplastics, both in terms of emission points and product types will allow us to propose solutions covering large regions to reduce plastic pollution. In this study, in Isparta city center, both indoor and outdoor air samples were collected from 11 houses reflecting different source characteristics for four seasons during one year, and the levels of microplastics in the collected samples were determined and compared with the studies in the literature."