Papers

A critical review on plastic waste life cycle assessment and management: Challenges, research gaps, and future perspectives

This review examines the full environmental impact of plastics from production through disposal, noting that life cycle assessments often produce unexpected results when comparing bio-based and petroleum-based plastics. A major gap exists because microplastic pollution is not yet factored into these environmental assessments, despite growing evidence of its ecological harm.

A critical review of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems: Degradation mechanisms and removing strategies

This review summarizes methods for removing microplastics from water, including physical filtering, chemical treatments, and biological breakdown by bacteria, fungi, and enzymes. Effective removal of microplastics from water is important for human health because these tiny particles are eaten by fish and other seafood, eventually entering the human food chain.

Microalgae-based bioremediation of refractory pollutants: an approach towards environmental sustainability

This review examines how microalgae can be used to clean up hard-to-remove pollutants, including microplastics, from contaminated environments. The authors highlight that microalgae-based bioremediation is a sustainable, eco-friendly approach that could help address the growing problem of microplastic pollution in waterways.

Heavy Metal Pollution in Coastal Environments: Ecological Implications and Management Strategies: A Review

This review examines heavy metal pollution in coastal environments, covering sources like industrial runoff and agriculture, ecological impacts, and cleanup strategies. While focused on heavy metals rather than microplastics, it is relevant because microplastics often carry heavy metals on their surface, potentially increasing human exposure to these toxic substances through the food chain.

Exposure to polystyrene microplastic beads causes sex-specific toxic effects in the model insect Drosophila melanogaster

Researchers fed fruit flies (Drosophila) polystyrene microplastics and found toxic effects that differed between males and females. Exposed flies showed changes in feeding behavior, digestion, and excretion, with females experiencing greater reproductive impacts. This study is significant because it demonstrates that microplastic toxicity can be sex-specific, suggesting that health effects in humans might also differ between men and women.

Microplastics as an Emerging Potential Threat: Toxicity, Life Cycle Assessment, and Management

This review covers the full life cycle of microplastics, from how they enter the environment to their toxic effects on living organisms. Microplastics accumulate in aquatic and land ecosystems, where they can harm organisms by causing oxidative stress, disrupting hormones, and damaging organs. The authors emphasize that with global plastic production still rising, better waste management and recycling methods are urgently needed to reduce human and environmental exposure.

Biopolymers production from microalgae and cyanobacteria cultivated in wastewater: Recent advances

This review explores how microalgae and cyanobacteria grown in wastewater can produce biodegradable biopolymers as an alternative to conventional plastics. Researchers found that these organisms can manufacture polyhydroxyalkanoates and other bioplastics while simultaneously helping to treat wastewater. The approach offers a promising dual benefit of reducing plastic pollution and creating value from waste streams.

Chronic Exposure to Polystyrene Microplastic Fragments Has No Effect on Honey Bee Survival, but Reduces Feeding Rate and Body Weight

Researchers chronically exposed honey bees with established gut microbiomes to polystyrene microplastic fragments over 15 days and found no effect on survival. However, bees exposed to higher concentrations showed reduced feeding rates and lower body weight. The study suggests that while microplastics may not directly kill bees, they could affect bee nutrition and energy balance over time.

Microplastic exposure reduced the defecation rate, altered digestive enzyme activities, and caused histological and ultracellular changes in the midgut tissues of the ground beetle (Blaps polychresta)

Researchers fed ground beetles microplastic-contaminated food and found that exposure slowed their digestion, disrupted digestive enzymes, and caused severe damage to their gut tissue at the cellular level. The beetles showed destroyed gut lining, abnormal cell structures, and dead cells in their midgut. Since ground beetles are important pest-controlling predators in agricultural fields, microplastic harm to these insects could disrupt the natural pest control that protects food crops.

Exploring the risk of microplastics to pollinators: focusing on honey bees

This review summarizes research on how microplastics affect honey bees, which pollinate about 70% of the food we eat. Microplastics have been found in honey, pollen, beeswax, and bee tissues including the brain and gut, where they can impair behavior, immunity, and gut bacteria. Declining bee populations threaten food production, and microplastic pollution may be one contributing factor.

Salinity-dependent effects of integrated biofloc technology on reproductive performance, biological responses, and offspring quality in red tilapia aquaculture

Researchers evaluated how different salinity levels affect the reproductive performance and offspring quality of red tilapia raised in biofloc aquaculture systems. They found that biofloc technology improved egg production, antioxidant capacity, and immune responses compared to clear water systems. The study provides practical guidance for optimizing tilapia breeding conditions in sustainable aquaculture operations.

Unmasking microplastics in anaerobic digestion: Hidden threats, synergistic pollutants, and biodegradation Frontiers — A comprehensive hotspot review

Researchers reviewed how microplastics disrupt anaerobic digestion — the process used to convert organic waste into biogas — finding that microplastics suppress methane production, harm microbial communities, and carry along other pollutants like antibiotics and heavy metals into the system.

Bioremediation of n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals from wastewater using seaweeds

Researchers tested three types of dried seaweed for their ability to remove petroleum compounds and heavy metals from wastewater. They found that all three seaweed species effectively absorbed these pollutants, with removal rates improving as seaweed concentration increased. The study suggests that seaweed could serve as a low-cost, natural material for cleaning contaminated water.

Are Honey Bees at Risk from Microplastics?

This review examines whether microplastics pose a risk to honey bee populations, noting that microplastics have been detected in honey samples and on bees collected from both urban and rural areas. Researchers found that exposure to certain polymer types may affect bee health, and the study calls for more research to understand the risks of microplastic exposure to pollinators and the broader implications for ecosystem health.

Interactive adverse effects of low-density polyethylene microplastics on marine microalga Chaetoceros calcitrans

Researchers examined the toxicological effects of low-density polyethylene microplastics on the marine microalga Chaetoceros calcitrans. They found concentration-dependent inhibition of algal growth up to 85 percent, along with reduced photosynthetic efficiency and significant oxidative stress responses. The microplastics physically adhered to algal cell walls, causing observable structural damage, suggesting that polyethylene microplastic pollution may pose serious risks to marine phytoplankton at the base of ocean food chains.

Unlocking the potential of microalgae cultivated on wastewater combined with salinity stress to improve biodiesel production

Researchers found that a freshwater microalgae species called Oocystis pusilla thrives in wastewater and produces high levels of biodiesel-ready fats, especially when salt stress is applied — making it a promising low-cost, sustainable biofuel source that also helps treat wastewater.

Polystyrene microplastic particles induced hepatotoxic injury via pyroptosis, oxidative stress, and fibrotic changes in adult male albino rats; the therapeutic role of silymarin

Researchers examined the liver toxicity of polystyrene microplastic particles in adult male rats and evaluated whether silymarin, a liver-protective compound, could mitigate the damage. The study found that exposure to 1 and 5 micrometer microplastics induced liver injury through pyroptosis, oxidative stress, and fibrotic changes, and that silymarin treatment showed potential therapeutic effects against these microplastic-induced injuries.

Removal of microplastic contaminants by a porous hybrid nanocomposite and using the earthworms as a biomarker for the removal of contaminants

Antimicrobial activity of Monascus purpureus-derived red pigments against Salmonella typhimurium, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus faecalis

Researchers found that red pigment extracted from the fungus Monascus purpureus killed Salmonella, E. coli, and Enterococcus bacteria more effectively than several common antibiotics in lab tests, with the dye disrupting bacterial cell membranes, suggesting it could be a natural alternative to conventional antibiotics.

How Environmental and Ecological Stressors Reprogram Honey Bee Chemistry Through the Microbiome–Metabolome Axis

Researchers reviewed how major environmental stressors — including pesticides, pathogens, nutritional imbalance, and contaminants — disrupt the honey bee gut microbiome-metabolome axis, finding recurring patterns of functional dysbiosis such as impaired energy metabolism and weakened immune regulation that can scale up to threaten colony resilience.

Dietary Feeding Lycopene, Citric Acid, and Chlorella Alleviated the Neurotoxicity of Polyethylene Microplastics in African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus)

Researchers found that dietary supplementation with lycopene, citric acid, and Chlorella alleviated neurotoxic effects of polyethylene microplastics in African catfish brains, reducing oxidative damage, improving antioxidant enzyme activity, and restoring normal brain tissue histology.

Coupling wastewater treatment, biomass, lipids, and biodiesel production of some green microalgae

Researchers demonstrated that green microalgae species can simultaneously treat wastewater by removing nutrients and heavy metals while producing lipid-rich biomass suitable for biodiesel production, offering a dual-purpose environmental solution.

Microplastic clouds in rivers: spatiotemporal dynamics of microplastic pollution in a fluvial system

Researchers tracked microplastic concentrations along 750 kilometers of the Tisza River over three years, finding that floods flush stored sediments — and the microplastics trapped in them — downstream in distinct "clouds" of pollution. Average microplastic concentrations more than doubled from 2021 to 2023, underscoring that flood events dramatically accelerate microplastic transport in river systems.

Cross-contamination pathways in the analysis of plastics and related chemical compounds: Good laboratory practices and tips

Researchers identified six major cross-contamination pathways in analytical workflows for microplastics and plastic-related chemicals — spanning laboratory materials, environmental sources, human handling, solvents, sample preparation, and instrumentation — and provide practical good laboratory practices to improve data reliability at trace levels.