Plastic pollution in waterways and in the oceans

Plastic debris in rivers

How Plastic Pollution Impacts our Environment

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This overview examined how persistent plastic pollution — including the 79,000 tonnes accumulating in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — degrades into microplastics and permeates ecosystems globally. The review underscores that fossil-fuel-based plastics' near-permanent environmental persistence creates an expanding reservoir of microplastic exposure risk for wildlife and humans alike.

Microplastic Pollution in Water

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Researchers reviewed microplastic pollution across freshwater, seawater, and coastal environments, summarizing sources, detection methods, and ecological and human health impacts, and identifying standardization of sampling and analysis techniques as a critical research priority.

Plastic Pollution and Health Impacts

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Researchers reviewed the global scale of plastic production and its health consequences, contextualizing India's contribution of approximately 25 million tonnes annually within a worldwide total of 390.7 million tonnes and examining associated public health risks from microplastic exposure across environmental pathways.

Microplastics Pollution in Rivers

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Rivers serve as both reservoirs and transport highways for microplastic pollution, carrying particles from inland sources to lakes and marine environments while exposing freshwater organisms to contamination along the way. River-borne microplastics directly threaten drinking water quality and aquatic biodiversity worldwide.