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How plastic waste management affects the accumulation of microplastics in waters: a review for transport mechanisms and routes of microplastics in aquatic environments and a timeline for their fate and occurrence (past, present, and future)
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This review traces how plastic waste management practices influence the accumulation and transport of microplastics in freshwater and marine environments over time. Researchers found that improper waste handling, surface runoff, and wastewater discharge are the primary pathways through which microplastics enter aquatic systems. The study provides a timeline perspective showing that without improved waste management, microplastic concentrations in water bodies are projected to continue rising significantly.
An increasing global problem is the buildup of improperly handled plastic garbage in the environment. One of the biggest environmental issues facing aquatic ecosystems today is contamination from bulk plastics and plastic detritus. Specifically, microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics, which are small-scale plastic waste, are now the main causes of pollution in freshwater and marine environments. On the other hand, contamination of aquatic systems is now acknowledged as one of the major environmental hazards facing our world. Currently, concerns have been raised regarding the breakdown of plastic products into micro and nanosized particles, because of the ineffective plastic waste management. To prioritize regions for mitigation policy implementation, it is critical to pinpoint the precise MPs’ transport mechanisms and the locations where trash is created. In order to show the historical and contemporary circumstances as well as forecasts and scenarios of global plastic waste management from now until 2060, we used continent-level data on trash management. This study, finally, presents a potential future scenario of estimates on the destiny, transport, and occurrence of plastic waste in aquatic habitats, highlighting the different factors that trigger the transport of MPs into water and the necessity of rational management of plastic waste.
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