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The Environmental Fate of Microplastics

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This review examines the environmental fate of microplastics as a class of micropollutants, tracing how they enter soils, lakes, oceans, and rivers and how their persistence makes them particularly difficult to address.

Body Systems
Study Type Environmental

The input of pollutants into the environment is increasing every year. Micropollutants are both inorganic and organic compounds that may negatively impact the environment even in minimal quantities. These are key contaminants in the soil, lakes, oceans, and rivers. Pollutants enter the environment from many anthropogenic sources and are spread out in many different areas of the environment. Micropollutants depend on their natural qualities and whether they are organic to inorganic by their sources like as pharmaceuticals, and micro and nano plastics, personal care products, pesticides, stimulants, persistent organic pollutants. Trace and heavy metals, etc., are inorganic. Micropollutants get into the air, water, and earth from a variety of sources. These chemicals pollute the soil and the living things that live in it. Plants also eat them and they get into the groundwater. Microorganisms, earthworms, and other animals are most strongly affected by pharmaceuticals. This book chapter focuses on the fate, behavior, the occurrence of the contaminants to environmental and health risks effect with emerging pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, hormones, toxins, and biological micropollutants in soils and sediments, groundwater, industrial and municipal wastewaters, aquaculture effluents, and freshwater and marine ecosystems and geochemical environment. These micro-pollutants pose significant risks at every stage of their life cycle to the environment and human health. Additionally, some ideas for lowering the potential hazards of micropollutants have been put forward based on recent developments in this field of research.

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