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Wet Deposition of Globally Transportable Microplastics (<25 μm) Hovering over the Megacity of Beijing
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Researchers detected microplastics in all 10 rainfall events sampled in Beijing, with concentrations up to 136,778 particles per cubic meter of rainwater. Nearly 40% of the particles were smaller than 25 micrometers, a size small enough to travel long distances through the atmosphere and be inhaled deep into the lungs. This study shows that rain washes airborne microplastics out of the sky and onto cities, contributing to human exposure through both air and water.
Microplastics of size <25 μm possess globally transportable features, but the impact of precipitation on their transport remains unclear. Here, microplastics were detected in all 10 studied rainfalls in Beijing, with <25 μm microplastics present in 8 rainfalls. Interestingly, microplastic abundance (7590-136,778 items·m-3) was tentatively linked to maximum rainfall intensity, with <25 μm microplastics making up 39.6 (±27.5)% of the total count. The composition of <25 μm microplastics differed from that of larger microplastics, although both mainly comprised polystyrene, polyethylene, and polypropylene. The microplastic communities differed among rainfalls, suggesting that atmospheric transport is a highly dynamic process. The first rainfall exhibited the highest microplastic abundance and community diversity after long-term exposure to dry atmospheric environment. The deposited microplastics were unstable and highly fragmented according to the conditional fragmentation model. The wet deposition rate of the microplastics was calculated as 2-463 μg·m-2 (146-8629 items·m-2) per rain, amounting to 25.44 tons per annum in Beijing. Although <25 μm microplastics represented a negligible proportion (0.00-1.24%) of the overall mass load of microplastics, their numerical abundance was high. Our results demonstrate that precipitation is an effective mechanism for removing airborne microplastics, which may enter urban soils and waters, exacerbate microplastic burdens in the environment, and cause potential risk for human health.
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Unexpected deposition by rainfall of globally transportable microplastics (<25 μm) hovering over the megacity of Beijing
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Microplastics smaller than 25 micrometers were detected in rainfall in Beijing, confirming that precipitation is a significant pathway for depositing atmospheric microplastics back to Earth's surface in urban megacities.
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Researchers tracked microplastic pollution falling from the air across a major Chinese urban region (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei) over a full year, finding that busier, wealthier, more populated areas had significantly more tiny plastic particles raining down from the sky, especially in spring. Most of these particles were tiny plastic fibers, often from synthetic textiles, small enough to potentially be inhaled, and the study found "moderate" to "high" ecological risk levels at various sites, highlighting that the air we breathe in cities is a real and measurable source of microplastic exposure that changes with location and season.
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