Papers

Replacing Plastics with Alternatives Is Worse for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Most Cases

An analysis of 16 common product categories found that in 15 out of 16 cases, plastic products generate 10% to 90% fewer greenhouse gas emissions over their lifetime than alternatives made from glass, metal, paper, or cotton. While this does not address microplastic health concerns, it highlights the tradeoff: simply replacing plastics with other materials could worsen climate change, so policies should focus on using plastic more efficiently and improving recycling.

Review of Health Effects of Automotive Brake and Tyre Wear Particles

This review summarizes what is known about the health effects of brake dust and tire wear particles, which are now the largest transport-related sources of particulate air pollution in cities. Tire microplastics are also the biggest contributor of unintentionally released microplastics in the environment, and the review examines their effects on human cells and organisms as the EU introduces the first worldwide limits on these emissions.

Microplastics in aquatic environment: Challenges and perspectives

This review provides a comprehensive overview of microplastic pollution in water environments, covering sources, transport, health effects, detection methods, and control strategies. Microplastics enter waterways from everyday plastic products, industrial discharge, and wastewater treatment plants, where aquatic organisms ingest them and pass them up the food chain. The review highlights the urgent need for better analytical techniques and global policies to reduce microplastic contamination that ultimately reaches human food and drinking water.

Microplastics generated from a biodegradable plastic in freshwater and seawater

Researchers compared microplastic generation from a biodegradable plastic (PBAT) and conventional polyethylene in water and found that the biodegradable plastic actually produced far more microplastic fragments. Exposure to UV light, which simulates sunlight, dramatically accelerated the fragmentation of the biodegradable material. This finding challenges the assumption that biodegradable plastics are a straightforward solution to plastic pollution, since they may create more microplastics during the breakdown process.

Micro(nano)plastics pollution and human health: How plastics can induce carcinogenesis to humans?

This review examines how microplastics and nanoplastics enter the human body through food, water, and air, and how they may contribute to cancer development. Common plastic types like polystyrene and PVC, along with toxic chemicals they carry such as PAHs and PCBs, have been linked to DNA damage, oxidative stress, and inflammation, all of which can promote cancer. The paper highlights that while the evidence is growing, more research is needed to understand the full cancer risk from chronic microplastic exposure.

Microplastics in freshwater: Unveiling sources, fate, and removal strategies

This review of 167 studies examines the sources, distribution, and fate of microplastics in freshwater systems worldwide. Key sources include improperly disposed plastic waste, synthetic fabrics, and personal care products, and these particles act as carriers for heavy metals, pesticides, and antibiotic-resistant bacteria -- collectively posing potential cancer and other health risks through contaminated drinking water and food.

Phenotypic and Gene Expression Alterations in Aquatic Organisms Exposed to Microplastics

This review summarizes research on how microplastics affect aquatic animals at the genetic level, covering changes in hatching, development, and growth. Microplastics, especially when combined with other pollutants, trigger abnormal gene activity in antioxidant and stress-response systems in fish and other water organisms. These genetic disruptions in aquatic life are relevant to human health because affected organisms can enter the food chain through seafood.

Evidence of microplastics in groundwater: A growing risk for human health

Lignocellulosic biomass from agricultural waste to the circular economy: a review with focus on biofuels, biocomposites and bioplastics

This review examines how agricultural waste rich in lignocellulose can be converted into biofuels, biocomposites, and bioplastics as sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based products. Recent advances in biorefinery technology have improved the ability to process plant-based waste into a range of useful materials. Replacing conventional plastics with bioplastics from agricultural waste could help reduce both plastic pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Review of microplastic degradation: Understanding metagenomic approaches for microplastic degrading organisms

This review explores how metagenomics, the study of genetic material from environmental samples, is helping scientists identify microorganisms that can break down plastics. The paper covers the methods used to find and characterize plastic-degrading bacteria, as well as the environmental consequences of plastic degradation including health risks from inhaling and ingesting microplastics. While biological solutions to plastic pollution show promise, the review notes that more research is needed to develop effective, scalable approaches.

How do microplastics alter molluscicidal activity? Effects of weathered microplastics and niclosamide in developing freshwater snails

Researchers discovered that polyethylene microplastics in water reduce the effectiveness of niclosamide, the only molluscicide recommended by the WHO for controlling the snails that spread schistosomiasis, a disease affecting over 236 million people. The microplastics absorb the chemical, making it less available to kill the target snails. This finding raises concerns that microplastic pollution in tropical waterways could undermine disease control programs, indirectly affecting human health.

Recent Advances in Photocatalytic Removal of Microplastics: Mechanisms, Kinetic Degradation, and Reactor Design

This review examines how photocatalytic processes, which use light-activated materials to generate reactive molecules, can be used to break down microplastics in water. Researchers surveyed the mechanisms behind photocatalytic degradation of common plastics like polyethylene and polystyrene, as well as reactor designs that could make the technology practical. The study highlights photocatalysis as a promising approach for tackling microplastic pollution but notes that scaling up these systems remains a major challenge.

An aberration-free line scan confocal Raman imager and type classification and distribution detection of microplastics

Researchers developed an advanced Raman imaging system that can identify and classify microplastics as small as 1 micrometer in diameter with 98% accuracy, working about 100 times faster than traditional methods. The system can also detect harmful chemical residues like phthalate plasticizers on microplastic surfaces. Faster and more accurate detection tools like this are essential for understanding the full scope of microplastic contamination in food and water and its potential impact on human health.

Environmental concerns on water-soluble and biodegradable plastics and their applications – A review

This review examines water-soluble and biodegradable plastics that are often assumed to be environmentally safe but may still pose health risks. Some of these plastics are not truly biodegradable due to their chemical structure, and their degradation products can sometimes be more hazardous than the original material. The authors recommend including non-biodegradable water-soluble plastics in microplastic regulations, since they can enter water supplies and the food chain just like conventional microplastics.

Plastic pollution amplified by a warming climate

Researchers examined the connection between climate change and plastic pollution, finding that rising temperatures accelerate plastic degradation and microplastic generation, meaning that as the planet warms, the microplastic problem is likely to get worse faster.

Degradation of PET microplastic particles to monomers in human serum by PETase

Scientists demonstrated that an engineered enzyme called PETase can break down PET microplastic particles into their non-toxic building blocks directly in human blood serum at body temperature. The enzyme worked without harming human cells in laboratory tests, suggesting a potential future medical treatment for clearing plastic particles from the body. While still early-stage research, this represents a novel approach to addressing the growing presence of microplastics detected in human blood.

EchoGrid: High-Throughput Acoustic Trapping for Enrichment of Environmental Microplastics

Engineers developed the EchoGrid, a device that uses sound waves to capture and concentrate microplastics from large water samples for easier detection. The device can process drinking water and environmental samples much faster than existing methods, which is important because microplastics are often present at low concentrations that require large sample volumes to detect. Better detection tools like this are essential for understanding how much microplastic contamination exists in the water people drink.

Human impacts and their interactions in the Baltic Sea region

This comprehensive assessment cataloged the many human-caused pressures on the Baltic Sea region, from climate change and agricultural runoff to shipping, chemical contamination, and microplastic pollution. Researchers found that climate change acts as an overarching force that amplifies or modifies nearly all other environmental stressors in this heavily populated coastal area. The study emphasizes that understanding how these multiple pressures interact is essential for effective environmental management.

Sheathless Elasto‐Inertial Focusing of Sub‐25 Nm Particles in Straight Microchannels

Scientists developed a new method to focus and separate nanoparticles as small as 25 nanometers using microchannels and special fluid properties, without needing any external equipment like electric fields. They successfully focused biological particles including lipoproteins and extracellular vesicles, which are important for medical diagnostics. While the technology was designed for biomedical applications, it could also be applied to detecting and separating nanoplastics from environmental samples.

Environmental assessment of diets: overview and guidance on indicator choice

Researchers review which environmental indicators — such as greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land impact — are most useful for assessing how sustainable different diets are, providing guidance for health experts, policymakers, and food industry decision-makers. The authors recommend that diet assessments always include at least five indicator areas including climate change, biodiversity impact, and effects on wild fish stocks to capture the full range of environmental trade-offs.

Microplastics and nanoplastics in environment: Sampling, characterization and analytical methods

Ecosafety Screening of Photo-Fenton Process for the Degradation of Microplastics in Water

Researchers evaluated a photo-Fenton process using a zinc oxide and iron nanoparticle catalyst to degrade polypropylene and PVC microplastics in a continuous water flow system. They achieved more than 95% reduction in average particle volume after one week of treatment. The study also assessed the environmental safety of the treated water through ecotoxicological bioassays, working toward a degradation method that does not introduce new ecological risks.

Integrating biodiversity impacts into seafood life cycle assessments: pathways for improvement

This study evaluated methods for measuring how seafood production affects biodiversity and found that current environmental assessments capture only about 20 percent of the relevant impacts on aquatic life. Researchers identified 39 distinct environmental impacts linked to seafood production, 90 percent of which relate to biodiversity loss at the genetic, species, or ecosystem level. The findings highlight major gaps in how the seafood industry's full ecological footprint is measured and call for more comprehensive assessment tools.

Microplastics Originating from Polymer Blends: An Emerging Threat?

Researchers highlight an overlooked source of microplastic pollution: polymer blends, where a single gram of blended plastic can contain millions to billions of micrometer-sized particles of the dispersed phase. When the surrounding matrix material degrades, especially if it is biodegradable while the dispersed phase is not, enormous quantities of microplastics can be released. The study warns that polymer blends represent an emerging and potentially massive source of microplastic contamination during production, use, and disposal.