Papers

Contribution of Road Vehicle Tyre Wear to Microplastics and Ambient Air Pollution

This review finds that tire wear from road vehicles contributes one-third to one-half of all microplastics released unintentionally into the environment, with passenger cars generating about 110 milligrams per kilometer driven. Most tire particles end up in soil, but a portion becomes airborne, contributing 5-30% of road transport particulate matter emissions. Since the smallest tire particles can be inhaled, this is a significant and often overlooked source of daily microplastic exposure for people living near roads.

Inhalable Textile Microplastic Fibers Impair Airway Epithelial Differentiation

Researchers exposed lung cells and mice to textile microplastic fibers (nylon and polyester) and found that nylon fibers significantly impaired airway cell growth and development. The damage came from chemicals leaching out of the nylon rather than the physical fibers themselves, and the effects persisted even after exposure ended. This is relevant because textile fibers are one of the most common types of microplastics people inhale daily.

Next Generation Risk Assessment approaches for advanced nanomaterials: Current status and future perspectives

This paper proposes a framework for assessing the safety of advanced nanomaterials using newer testing methods that reduce the need for animal studies. The tiered approach combines existing data with targeted testing to evaluate health risks cost-effectively. While focused on engineered nanomaterials broadly, the framework is relevant to understanding the risks of nanoplastics and could help regulators develop safety standards for these emerging contaminants.

Interlaboratory Comparison Reveals State of the Art in Microplastic Detection and Quantification Methods

This large international study compared how 84 laboratories around the world performed when identifying and measuring microplastics using five common detection methods. The results showed significant differences between labs, with spectroscopy-based methods generally outperforming heat-based techniques for accuracy. The findings highlight that standardized methods are urgently needed so that microplastic measurements in food, water, and the environment can be reliably compared across studies.

Assessing toxicity of amorphous nanoplastics in airway- and lung epithelial cells using air-liquid interface models

Researchers tested four types of nanoplastics on human airway and lung cells using a model that mimics real breathing conditions, and found that polystyrene, PVC, nylon, and polypropylene nanoplastics did not cause significant cell death or inflammation at the concentrations tested. While copper oxide particles (used as a positive control) did cause inflammation, the plastic particles did not trigger the same response. This is a reassuring finding, though the authors note that long-term and repeated exposure effects still need to be studied.

Advanced epithelial lung and gut barrier models demonstrate passage of microplastic particles

Researchers tested microplastics of various sizes, shapes, and materials on advanced lab models of human lung and gut tissue, finding that several types — including polystyrene spheres and nylon fibers — physically crossed the tissue barrier, disrupted its integrity, and triggered inflammation, providing direct evidence that microplastics can penetrate our body's defenses.

Traded Plastic, Traded Impacts? Designing Counterfactual Scenarios to Assess Environmental Impacts of Global Plastic Waste Trade

This study used life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impact of global plastic waste trade in 2022 across 18 countries. The research found that trading plastic waste internationally resulted in lower overall environmental impacts compared to countries processing all their waste domestically, partly because importing countries have higher recycling rates. However, the benefits depend heavily on actual recycling rates, and the trade can shift pollution burdens to lower-income countries.

Size- and polymer-dependent toxicity of amorphous environmentally relevant micro- and nanoplastics in human bronchial epithelial cells

This study examined how the size and type of plastic particles affect their toxicity to human lung cells. Researchers tested environmentally relevant micro- and nanoplastics with irregular shapes, rather than the uniform spheres typically used in lab studies, to better mimic real-world exposure. The findings contribute to a growing understanding that particle size and polymer composition both matter when assessing the potential health risks of inhaling airborne plastic particles.

Degradation rates and ageing effects of UV on tyre and road wear particles

Researchers studied how UV light degrades tire and road wear particles, which are considered the largest source of microplastics in the environment. They found that UV exposure caused significant surface cracking and chemical changes in the rubber particles, accelerating their breakdown into smaller fragments. The study provides important data on how quickly these particles degrade outdoors, which helps predict their long-term environmental fate and accumulation.

Gut-on-a-Chip Research for Drug Development: Implications of Chip Design on Preclinical Oral Bioavailability or Intestinal Disease Studies

This review examines how gut-on-a-chip laboratory devices are designed and used to study drug absorption and intestinal diseases outside the body. Researchers highlight four key design factors that influence how well these miniature gut models replicate real biological conditions. The study suggests these systems offer more realistic insights than traditional cell culture methods for understanding how drugs and food components interact with the intestinal lining.

Plastics in the global environment assessed through material flow analysis, degradation and environmental transportation

Researchers conducted a global mass flow analysis of plastic emissions across all countries, tracking 8 polymer types across 10 sectors into 7 environmental compartments. The study estimated that 0.8 million tonnes of microplastics and 8.7 million tonnes of macroplastics entered the environment in 2017, with tire wear being the largest source of microplastic emissions. Modeling predicts that even with zero plastic production after 2022, approximately 2.15 gigatonnes of plastics would still accumulate in the environment by 2050 due to landfill leakage and degradation.

Microplastic aquatic impacts included in Life Cycle Assessment

Researchers developed a method to include the environmental damage caused by microplastic pollution in standard lifecycle assessments (LCAs) — the tool companies use to measure a product's environmental footprint — and found that plastic pollution often dominated the toxicity impact scores for consumer packaging. Adding plastic pollution to these assessments could help identify where in a product's life cycle plastic losses cause the most ecological harm.

Plastic debris in rivers

This review synthesizes current knowledge on plastic debris in rivers, covering sources, transport mechanisms, ecological impacts, and the role of rivers in delivering plastic to the oceans. The authors highlight key knowledge gaps and emphasize that riverine ecosystems are directly harmed by plastic pollution, not merely transit corridors.

Beyond Mechanical Recycling: Giving New Life to Plastic Waste

This review examines chemical recycling processes — including pyrolysis, solvolysis, and gasification — as alternatives to mechanical recycling for plastic waste, comparing their technical readiness, environmental performance via life-cycle analysis, and commercial development status.

Inhalable textile microplastic fibers impair lung repair

Human and murine lung organoid experiments showed that nylon microfibers, but not polyester fibers, impaired airway organoid growth and development, with the damage driven by leached components rather than physical obstruction, raising concerns for lung health during early development.

Potential toxicity of micro- and nanoplastics in primary bronchial epithelial cells of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Researchers investigated how micro- and nanoplastics affect lung cells taken from patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that already impairs breathing. The study aimed to determine whether plastic particle exposure poses additional toxic risk to people whose airways are already compromised.

Classification of (micro)plastics using cathodoluminescence and machine learning

Researchers combined scanning electron microscopy with cathodoluminescence spectroscopy and machine learning to classify six common plastic types including HDPE, LDPE, PP, PA, PS, and PET at the nanoscale. Each plastic type produced a unique cathodoluminescence signature enabling classification of micro- and nanoplastics too small for conventional infrared or Raman spectroscopy.

Gut-on-a-Chip Research for Drug Development: Implications of Chip Design on Preclinical Oral Bioavailability or Intestinal Disease Studies

This review of gut-on-a-chip systems for drug development highlights the key design components including chip fabrication materials, tissue engineering approaches, and biochemical cues, covering their applications for studying oral drug bioavailability and intestinal disease treatment.

Inhalable textile microplastic fibers impair lung repair

Inhalable textile microplastic fibers were tested in a lung repair model, with results showing that fibers significantly impaired alveolar epithelial healing and disrupted normal lung tissue regeneration. The study provides mechanistic evidence linking inhaled plastic fibers to lung damage, relevant to occupational and ambient air exposure scenarios.

Partitioning of hydrophobic organic contaminants between polymer and lipids for two silicones and low density polyethylene

This study measured how hydrophobic organic contaminants partition between plastic polymers and biological lipids, providing data needed to predict whether microplastic ingestion increases a toxin's bioavailability in living organisms. The findings are important for assessing whether microplastics meaningfully boost pollutant transfer from the environment to marine life.

On-Road Measurements and Modelling of Disc Brake Temperatures and Brake Wear Particle Number Emissions on a Heavy-Duty Tractor Trailer

Despite its title referencing "plasticity," this paper studies residual stress patterns in 50CrMo4 steel subjected to laser heat treatment — not plastic pollution or microplastics. It examines how tempering transformation affects the internal stresses in metal components and is not relevant to microplastics or human health.

P17-07: Assessing toxicity of different types of nanoplastics on bronchial and alveolar epithelial cells using air-liquid interface models

Protocol for the production of micro- and nanoplastic test materials

Researchers developed a standardized protocol for producing well-characterized polypropylene and PVC micro- and nanoplastic test materials through cryogenic milling and sedimentation fractionation, yielding size fractions from below 1 µm to 300 µm with contamination below 1 wt% that remained stable in BSA solution over nine months.

Removing barriers to plastic waste valorisation in Africa: Towards policies for value creation and capture in business ecosystems

This review examines the barriers preventing plastic waste valorisation in Africa and analyses why policy interventions have not yet led to substantial value creation and capture within low-income country business ecosystems. The authors propose policy frameworks targeted at stimulating circular economy approaches to plastic waste that account for the specific economic and institutional contexts of African markets.