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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Plastic: A Boon but Also a Curse to the Environment
ClearMicroplastics: Environmental Issues and Their Management
This review covers the environmental hazards of microplastics, their accumulation in soils, water bodies, and living organisms, and management strategies for reducing plastic waste. Global plastic production has grown from 2 million tons in 1950 to 380 million tons annually, with much ending up as persistent environmental pollution.
Plastics in the environment as potential threat to life: an overview
This overview examined the broad environmental impacts of plastic pollution across oceans, soil, freshwater, and sediments. Researchers highlighted that wildlife including seabirds, fish, and crustaceans are affected by plastic entanglement and pollutants carried by microplastics. The study suggests that plastics can be potentially harmful to humans and other mammals, and emphasizes the need for mitigation strategies.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic benefits alongside environmental and public health risks — and surveys strategies for more sustainable plastic production and disposal.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic and practical benefits alongside growing environmental and health concerns — calling for a balanced approach to plastic use and waste management.
Plastic
This overview examines the scale of global plastic production and pollution, explaining how 9 million tonnes of plastic enter oceans annually, fragment into microplastics that enter food chains, and allow toxic chemicals including BPA, styrene, and PCBs to bioaccumulate up to humans.
Plastic waste: impact on the planet’s ecosystem
This review covers the trajectory of global plastic production from 1.5 million tonnes in 1950 to over 335 million tonnes in 2016 and examines the ecological consequences of plastic waste entering the environment. The paper highlights microplastics as an escalating threat to marine and terrestrial ecosystems, with toxicological effects documented across species.
Plastic Pollution
This book chapter provides a broad overview of plastic pollution, covering the scale of global plastic production, why plastics persist in the environment for centuries, and the various physical and biological approaches being explored to break plastics down. It gives particular attention to microbial degradation as a promising strategy for plastic bioremediation in soil and water environments. The chapter serves as a useful introduction to the plastic pollution problem and the emerging science of using microorganisms to tackle it.
Harmful Effects of Plastics, Microplastics, and Nanoplastics
This review examines the harmful effects of plastics at all size scales, from bulk plastic waste down to micro- and nanoplastics, on both ecosystems and human health. Researchers documented how plastic degradation products accumulate in the environment and enter food chains through soil, water, and air. The study highlights the growing body of evidence linking plastic pollution to adverse effects in wildlife and potential risks to human well-being.
Plastic Pollution and its Impact on Environment
This overview of plastic pollution from 1950 to 2021 estimates that approximately 6.3 billion tons of plastics have been produced globally, with only 9% recycled, while continued population growth and consumption drive mounting environmental accumulation. The study links plastic pollution trajectories to public health, ecosystem, and regulatory challenges.
Pollution with Plastic Waste (damage of Microplastics)
This brief article provides a general overview of plastic waste pollution, its environmental spread, and the particular dangers of microplastics to ecosystems and human health. While short on detail, it contributes to the growing body of public-facing literature drawing attention to microplastics as a serious global hazard.
The Devastation of Waste Plastic on the Environment and Remediation Processes: A Critical Review
This review covers the full scope of plastic waste pollution, from sources and environmental damage to recycling and remediation strategies. It ranks common plastic polymers by the toxicity of their chemical building blocks and traces how plastic waste enters the environment. The review highlights that as plastics break down into microplastics, they become harder to clean up and more likely to enter the food chain, making prevention and recycling critical for reducing human exposure.
Plastics - a curse for fauna-over viewing the situation
This review examines the pervasive threat of plastic pollution to fauna across terrestrial, aquatic, and marine environments, noting that roughly 40% of ocean surface is covered with plastic debris with approximately 8 billion tonnes entering annually. The authors survey documented impacts of both macroplastics and microplastics on soil fauna, marine organisms, and wildlife from polar regions to high-altitude environments.
Microplastics in Environment and Effects on Biota
This review summarizes how microplastics form from plastic breakdown in nature or are manufactured at small sizes, spread across ecosystems, and harm organisms from microbes to larger animals. It emphasizes that poor plastic waste management is driving a growing global pollution crisis with broad ecological consequences.
Pervasive Pollution Problems Caused by Plastics and its Degradation
This review discusses the pervasive environmental pollution caused by plastics and their degradation products, arguing that plastic contamination now affects air, water, food, and all living organisms and requires urgent global action to reduce production and improve waste management.
Plastic pollution in the marine environment
This review provides a comprehensive overview of plastic pollution in coastal and marine environments, covering everything from how plastics enter the ocean to their effects on marine life. Researchers compiled global data showing microplastic concentrations ranging widely across different water bodies and sediments, with marine organisms accumulating significant amounts. The study underscores that plastic pollution causes ecological damage through entanglement, ingestion toxicity, and the transport of invasive species.
Plastics
This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the plastic life cycle, covering the origins, ubiquity, and impacts of plastics on human health and ecosystems, and discussing actions individuals and societies can take to reduce plastic pollution.
Introduction to Plastic Wastes: Processing Methods, Environmental and Health Implications
This review introduces the environmental and health implications of plastic waste, tracing the dramatic increase in global plastic production from 2 million tons in the 1950s to over 359 million tons by 2018. Researchers discuss various processing methods for plastic waste and highlight the growing concern over microplastic contamination across ecosystems.
Polymers and Microplastics: Implications on Our Environment and Sustainability
This review discusses the environmental implications of polymers and microplastics, covering their properties, production trends, degradation pathways, and ecological impacts. It highlights the tension between the industrial utility of plastics and their growing threat to environmental and human health.
Microplastic Pollution in the Environment
This review covers microplastic pollution across environmental compartments, examining how plastic particles threaten agricultural production, aquatic ecosystems, groundwater, plant growth, and human and animal health through multiple exposure and toxicity pathways.
The world of plastic waste: A review
This review provides a broad overview of the global plastic waste crisis, noting that over 359 million tons of plastic are produced annually and much of it ends up polluting the environment. Plastics break down into micro and nano sizes that spread through air, water, and soil, harming wildlife through ingestion and entanglement and threatening human health through cardiovascular disease, kidney problems, and cancer. The authors discuss end-of-life solutions including recycling, energy recovery, and biodegradable alternatives.
Plastic Waste: Current Environmental Pollution, Health Hazard and Biodegradation Strategies and Its Management
This review paper surveys the scope of global plastic pollution, covering environmental contamination, health hazards, and biodegradation strategies. The study highlights that with plastic production exceeding 390 million tons by 2021, effective waste management and biodegradation approaches are urgently needed to address microplastic accumulation.
The Effects of Plastic and Microplastic Waste on the Marine Environment and the Ocean
This review summarizes the scale of plastic pollution in the world's oceans, where nearly 280 million tons of plastic are produced annually and much of it ends up in marine environments, affecting at least 267 species. Microplastics enter the marine food chain when sea creatures ingest them, ultimately reaching humans through seafood consumption, with potential health consequences that add to the economic and ecological damage.
Micro plastics in soil ecosystem - A review of sources, fate, and ecological impact
This review covers sources, fate, and ecological impacts of microplastics in soil ecosystems, finding that global plastic production has increased from 1.7 million tonnes in 1950 to over 320 million tonnes annually, with microplastics now detected in soils across all land use types.
The Impact of Plastic Waste on Ecosystems and Human Health and Strategies for Managing It for A Sustainable Environment
This review summarizes the broad impact of plastic waste on ecosystems and human health, covering how plastics break down into micro- and nanoplastics that contaminate soil, water, and air. The authors discuss health risks from plastic exposure including respiratory problems, liver damage, and hormonal disruption. The review calls for better waste management, recycling, and policies to reduce plastic pollution as a public health priority.