Papers

61,005 results
|
Article Tier 2

Degradation and Recycling of Polymer Materials

This review synthesizes research on the degradation and recycling of polymer materials, covering microplastic formation, recycling strategies, and plastic degradation mechanisms as responses to the significant environmental damage caused by discarded plastics in ocean and other ecosystems.

2025
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review on polymer degradation: Mechanisms, environmental implications, and sustainable mitigation strategies

This comprehensive review examined polymer degradation mechanisms including thermal, photo, oxidative, hydrolytic, and biodegradation processes and their environmental implications. The study discussed how these degradation pathways generate microplastic pollution and contribute to ecosystem disruption, while evaluating sustainable mitigation strategies such as biodegradable polymers, advanced recycling, and stabilization techniques.

2025 Communication in Physical Sciences 1 citations
Article Tier 2

The plastic in microplastics: A review

This review examined the chemical composition and diversity of plastics that become microplastics, summarizing the types of polymers found in the environment and their relevance for understanding ecological and health impacts.

2017 Marine Pollution Bulletin 2163 citations
Article Tier 2

A comprehensive review on polymer degradation: Mechanisms, environmental implications, and sustainable mitigation strategies

This comprehensive review examined the different ways plastics break down in the environment, including through heat, sunlight, chemical reactions, and biological processes. Researchers highlighted how polymer degradation leads to microplastic pollution, ecosystem disruption, and potential health risks for both wildlife and humans. The study emphasizes that biodegradable plastics, improved recycling, and better stabilization techniques are needed to manage plastic waste more sustainably.

2025 Communication in Physical Sciences 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Micro- and Nano-Plastics Contaminants in the Environment: Sources, Fate, Toxicity, Detection, Remediation, and Sustainable Perspectives

This review provides a broad overview of micro- and nanoplastic pollution, covering where these particles come from, how they spread through the environment, and the damage they cause to living things including humans. The authors also compare different methods for removing microplastics from the environment, including physical, chemical, and biological approaches. The paper calls for more research and global cooperation to develop better tools for measuring the health risks of plastic pollution.

2023 Water 31 citations
Article Tier 2

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.

2023 Sustainability 84 citations
Article Tier 2

On the issue of microplastics in the environment

This paper examines the origins of microplastic pollution, arguing that its emergence is not solely attributable to polymer chemistry advances and cannot be explained simply by physicochemical degradation processes acting on plastic materials.

2024 Tovaroved prodovolstvennykh tovarov (Commodity specialist of food products)
Article Tier 2

Occurrence, Degradation, and Effect of Polymer-Based Materials in the Environment

This review covers the occurrence, environmental degradation, and ecological effects of polymer-based materials across terrestrial and aquatic environments, including both conventional and biodegradable plastics. It highlights the chemical complexity of plastics — including additives and degradation products — as a key factor determining environmental risk beyond just the physical presence of particles.

2013 Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology 311 citations
Article Tier 2

Problematic issues of the impact of microplastics on the human body and the environment: A review

This review covers the current state of knowledge on how microplastics -- highly resistant artificial polymers -- affect human health and the environment, summarizing contamination pathways, toxicological effects, and the challenges of their slow decomposition. The authors highlight significant knowledge gaps and call for better monitoring and regulatory frameworks to address the growing microplastic problem.

2024 Pediatrics Consilium Medicum
Article Tier 2

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.

2020 Turkish Journal of Water Science and Management 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Microbial Degradation of Plastics

This review examines microbial degradation of plastics in the environment, discussing how environmental breakdown of plastics generates microplastic particles that accumulate in plants and animals and cause metabolic disruptions, while exploring the potential of microorganisms to break down plastic polymers.

2023 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Invisible Threats The Impact of Micro Plastics on Our Environment

This overview paper summarizes the environmental threats posed by microplastics, covering their sources, persistence, distribution in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and potential biological and ecological consequences.

2025 Journal on Applied and Chemical Physics
Article Tier 2

The planet in the clutches of plastic garbage: myths, reality, prospects

This review examines the life cycle of polymeric materials to analyze sources and accumulation of plastic waste, discussing the micro- and nanoscale fragmentation problem and arguing that solutions must include ecologically safe technologies for recycling, combustion, and landfill disposal of polymeric waste.

2025 Priroda
Article Tier 2

Current Concerns about Microplastics and Nanoplastics: A Brief Overview

This overview examines the growing concern about microplastics and nanoplastics released from polymer-based products into the environment. The review covers the main sources, formation mechanisms, and types of polymers involved, while discussing potential mitigation strategies for reducing the release of these small plastic particles.

2024 Polymers 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic Pollution in the Environment

This review examines the ubiquitous presence of microplastics as emerging environmental pollutants across all major environmental compartments, synthesizing data on their sources, fates, and concentrations over time and space to characterize the scale of global contamination.

2025
Article Tier 2

Microplastics: 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.

2022 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Emerging microplastic contamination in ecosystem: An urge for environmental sustainability

This review summarized the sources, environmental distribution, and ecological effects of microplastics, emphasizing the exponential increase in plastic production and waste mismanagement driving MP accumulation across terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The authors called for urgent policy measures to reduce single-use plastic production and improve waste infrastructure globally.

2022 Journal of Applied Biology & Biotechnology 11 citations
Article Tier 2

Driver, Trends and Fate of Plastics and Micro Plastics Occurrence in the Environment

This review examines the sources, trends, and environmental fate of plastics and microplastics, which have become a major global pollution problem due to massive production and poor waste management. Understanding how plastics move through the environment is essential for designing effective pollution controls.

2023
Article Tier 2

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.

2024 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Understanding and Mitigating the Toxic Impacts of Microplastic Pollution on Environmental Health

This review covers the sources, types, and ecological impacts of microplastics as environmental contaminants, examining how polymer-specific properties such as chemical additives affect toxicity across ecosystems and discussing mitigation approaches including physical and chemical remediation.

2025 JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENT AND BIO-SCIENCE
Article Tier 2

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.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

Investigating Adhesion and Degradation of Polymer Materials for Industrial Applications

This study investigated the adhesion and degradation behaviors of polymer materials used in industrial applications, examining how surface interactions and environmental breakdown contribute to plastic pollution through microplastic generation.

2024 Deep Blue (University of Michigan)
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in ecosystems and health

This review summarizes how microplastics originate from degrading macroplastics and intentionally manufactured products, describes their impacts on marine organisms and human health, and surveys emerging recycling technologies and regulatory responses. It provides a useful plain-language synthesis of why microplastics are a dual environmental-and-health problem, acting both as physical contaminants and as vectors for toxic chemicals.

2023 ECORFAN Journal Republic of Guatemala
Article Tier 2

Microplastics and Nanoplastics in the Environment: Sources, Toxicity, and Ecological Implications

This review summarized the sources, environmental distribution, toxicological effects, and ecological impacts of microplastics and nanoplastics, drawing on two decades of research across marine, freshwater, soil, and atmospheric environments. The paper highlighted the global scale of MNP contamination and the urgent need for policy action to reduce plastic pollution.

2025 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)