Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem

Bianco, Angelica; Passananti, Monica

doi:10.3390/su12187327

Cited by 78 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…In the case of the Vatnajökull ice cap, the pathways for the microplastics may either be wind or precipitation. The microplastic particles may either be directly released from urban or industrial areas or indirectly from the sea, lakes, or other natural systems where they have accumulated [44]. The potential sources of microplastics in the case of the Vatnajökull ice cap include small villages, the closest one being Höfn, located 65 km from the sampling site, and larger towns, including Reykjavík, which is likely the largest plastic polluter in Iceland, located 270 km west of the sampling site (see Figure 1).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in Glaciers: First Results from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap

et al. 2021

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Microplastic particles, as a second-phase material in ice, may contribute to the effect such particles have on the melting and rheological behaviour of glaciers, and thus influence the future meltwater contribution to the oceans and rising sea levels. Hence, it is of the utmost importance to map and understand the presence and dispersal of microplastics on a global scale. In this work, we identified microplastic particles in snow cores collected in a remote and pristine location on the Vatnajökull ice cap in Iceland. Utilising optical microscopy and µ-Raman spectroscopy, we visualised and identified microplastic particles of various sizes and materials. Our findings support that atmospheric transport of microplastic particles is one of the important pathways for microplastic pollution.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in Glaciers: First Results from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap

et al. 2021

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“…Microplastics are defined as plastic debris having particles with at least one dimension <5 mm, and particles <1 µm are known as nanoplastics [ 44 , 45 , 46 ]. Microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) have been recently detected in the atmosphere [ 47 , 48 ], freshwater and drinking water resources [ 28 , 49 , 50 ], wastewater and sewage sludge [ 51 ], soils and plants [ 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ], marine ecosystems [ 17 , 45 ], in human and animal organisms [ 18 , 56 , 57 ], and even in the waters of the Arctic and the Antarctic [ 2 , 3 , 58 ].…”

Section: Plastic Debris In the Marine Environmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Marine Waste—Sources, Fate, Risks, Challenges and Research Needs

Dąbrowska

Sobota

Świąder

et al. 2021

IJERPH

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The article presents a comprehensive and cross-cutting review of key marine waste issues, taking into account: sources, fate, risks, transport pathways, threats, legislation, current challenges, and knowledge gaps. The growing amount of both human-created waste in seas and oceans and waste reaching marine ecosystems from land is one of today’s challenges for the global economy and the European Union. It is predicted that if no decisive steps are taken to limit the amount of this type of waste, there may be more plastic waste than fish in the oceans after 2050. The influence of microplastics and nanoplastics on living organisms remains undiagnosed. Within the international and EU law, solutions are being developed to properly manage waste on board ships and to reduce the impact of processes related to the recycling of the vessels on the environment. Currently, over 80% of ships are dismantled in the countries of South Asia, in conditions that threaten the environment and the safety of workers. After World War 2, large quantities of chemical weapons were deposited in the seas. Steel containers with dangerous substances residing in the sea for over 70 years have begun leaking, thus polluting water. For many years, radioactive waste had also been dumped into marine ecosystems, although since 1993 there has been a total ban on such disposal of radionuclides. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on marine waste generation has also been presented as a significant factor influencing marine waste generation and management.

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“…Therefore, MPs and NPs can be considered one of the growing environmental contaminants with a significant impact on organisms [1,33]. MPs and NPs have also been detected in urban atmospheres as well as in remote and pristine environments, showing that atmospheric transport of MPs/NPs is also very significant [34,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Production and Characterization of Polyethylene Terephthalate Nanoparticles

et al. 2021

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Microplastic (MP) pollution represents one of the biggest environmental problems that is further exacerbated by the continuous degradation in the marine environment of MPs to nanoplastics (NPs). The most diffuse plastics in oceans are commodity polymers, mainly thermoplastics widely used for packaging, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). However, the huge interest in the chemical vector role of micro/nanoplastics, their fate and negative effects on the environment and human health is still under discussion and the research is still sparse due also to the difficulties of sampling MPs and NPs from the environment or producing NPs in laboratory. Moreover, the research on MPs and NPs pollution relies on the availability of engineered nanoparticles similar to those present in the marine environment for toxicological, transport and adsorption studies in biological tissues as well as for wastewater remediation studies. This work aims to develop an easy, fast and scalable procedure for the production of representative model nanoplastics from PET pellets. The proposed method, based on a simple and economic milling process, has been optimized considering the peculiarities of the polymer. The results demonstrated the reliability of the method for preparing particle suspensions for aquatic microplastic research, with evident advantages compared to the present literature procedures, such as low cost, the absence of liquid nitrogen, the short production time, the high yield of the process, stability, reproducibility and polydisperse size distribution of the produced water dispersed nanometric PET.

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Atmospheric Micro and Nanoplastics: An Enormous Microscopic Problem

Cited by 78 publications

References 80 publications

Microplastics in Glaciers: First Results from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap

Microplastics in Glaciers: First Results from the Vatnajökull Ice Cap

Marine Waste—Sources, Fate, Risks, Challenges and Research Needs

Production and Characterization of Polyethylene Terephthalate Nanoparticles

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