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Updated review on microplastics in water, their occurrence, detection, measurement, environmental pollution, and the need for regulatory standards
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This review examines microplastic occurrence, detection methods, and measurement techniques in aquatic environments, highlighting the urgent need for explicit regulatory frameworks to address the growing threat of microplastic pollution in water systems.
The gravity of the impending threats posed by microplastics (MPs) pollution in the environment cannot be over-emphasized. Several research studies continue to stress how important it is to curb the proliferation of these small plastic particles with different physical and chemical properties, especially in aquatic environments. While several works on how to monitor, detect and remove MPs from the aquatic environment have been published, there is still a lack of explicit regulatory framework for mitigation of MPs globally. A critical review that summarizes recent advances in MPs research and emphasizes the need for regulatory frameworks devoted to MPs is presented in this paper. These frameworks suggested in this paper may be useful for reducing the proliferation of MPs in the environment. Based on all reviewed studies related to MPs research, we discussed the occurrence of MPs by identifying the major types and sources of MPs in water bodies; examined the recent ways of detecting, monitoring, and measuring MPs routinely to minimize projected risks; and proposed recommendations for consensus regulatory actions that will be effective for MPs mitigation.
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Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.