1. The Peril of Plastics: Atmospheric Microplastics in Outdoor, Indoor, and Remote Environments
- Author
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Shikha Jyoti Borah, Abhijeet Kumar Gupta, Vinod Kumar, Priyanka Jhajharia, Praduman Prasad Singh, Pramod Kumar, Ravinder Kumar, Kashyap Kumar Dubey, and Akanksha Gupta
- Subjects
plastic waste ,atmospheric microplastic ,cryospheric ,deposition ,suspension ,Environmental technology. Sanitary engineering ,TD1-1066 ,Chemical technology ,TP1-1185 - Abstract
The increasing commercial, industrial, and medical applications of plastics cannot be halted during the coming years. Microplastics are a new class of plastic pollutants which have emerged as escalating environmental threats. The persistence, effects, and removal of MPs present in soil, water, and numerous organisms have become an important research field. However, atmospheric microplastics (AMPs), which are subcategorized into deposited and suspended, remain largely unexplored. This review presents the recent developments and challenges involved in fully understanding suspended and deposited AMPs. The evaluation of indoor suspended MP fibers needs to be critically investigated to understand their implications for human health. Furthermore, the transportation of AMPs to isolated locations, such as cryospheric regions, requires immediate attention. The major challenges associated with AMPs, which have hindered advancement in this field, are inconsistency in the available data, limited knowledge, and the lack of standardized methodologies for the sampling and characterization techniques of AMPs.
- Published
- 2024
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