Transportation fate and removal of microplastic pollution – A perspective on environmental pollution

With ever-increasing environmental pollution concerns, at large, and microplastic pollution, in particular, a sustainable quantification and redefining of plastic pollution is required urgently. Among various contributing sources, single-use plastic commodities and/or their eroded residues are considered a substantial source of this particular type of environmental pollution so-called ‘microplastic pollution’. Keeping in mind the adverse consequences of microplastic pollution on the living ecosystem, several case studies have scrutinized the policies and legislative tools to mitigate or at least reduce the microplastic pollution effectively. Particularly, limiting the single-use plastic commodities, such as plastic bags and plastic-based microbeads. It is also expected that the total current volume of micro-plastics in some marine compartments could go twofold by 2030. Regardless of the existence of different plastic categories, i.e., macro-plastics, meso-plastics, micro-plastics, and nano-plastics, herein we only focused on the micro-plastic pollution as a case study of environmental pollution perspective. Current scientific challenges include robust approaches for microplastic sampling and characterization, understanding the bioavailability and toxicity of microplastic at the organismal and ecosystem level. Herein, an effort has been made to spotlight the microplastic pollution along with its transportation fate and removal measures from wastewater treatment perspective as a case study. Possible research gaps and key directions are also given for future considerations.