Microplastics
[4] They cause pollution by entering natural ecosystems from a variety of sources, including cosmetics, clothing, construction, renovation, food packaging, and industrial processes.
Because plastics degrade slowly (often over hundreds to thousands of years),[14][15] microplastics have a high probability of ingestion, incorporation into, and accumulation in the bodies and tissues of many organisms.
[29] Microplastic "scrubbers", used in exfoliating hand cleansers and facial scrubs, have replaced traditionally used natural ingredients, including ground almond shells, oatmeal, and pumice.
This process involves blasting acrylic, melamine, or polyester microplastic scrubbers at machinery, engines, and boat hulls to remove rust and paint.
Over time, a culmination of physical, biological, and photochemical degradation, including photo-oxidation caused by sunlight exposure, can reduce the structural integrity of plastic debris to a size that is eventually undetectable to the naked eye.
[8] A 2015 Norwegian Environment Agency review report about microplastics stated it would be beneficial to classify these sources as primary, as long as microplastics from these sources are added from human society since the "start of the pipe", and their emissions are inherently a result of human material and product use and not secondary to fragmentation in the nature[37][incomplete short citation] Depending on the definition used, nanoplastics are less than 1 μm (i.e. 1000 nm) or less than 100 nm in size.
[38][39] Speculations over nanoplastics in the environment range from it being a temporary byproduct during the fragmentation of microplastics to it being an invisible environmental threat at potentially high and continuously rising concentrations.
These include taking plankton samples, analyzing sandy and muddy sediments, observing vertebrate and invertebrate consumption, and evaluating chemical pollutant interactions.
[62] The colours of plastics are commonly produced by the inclusion of heavy metals (or their compounds) such as chromium, manganese, cobalt, copper, zinc, zirconium, molybdenum, silver, tin, praseodymium, neodymium, erbium, tungsten, iridium, gold, lead, or uranium.
[91] These plastics are difficult to recycle and end up in landfills where they break down over a long period of time causing potential leaching into the soil and the release of airborne microplastics.
[101] The restriction proposal by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and reports by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and TAUW suggest that there are more than 500 microplastic ingredients that are widely used in cosmetics and personal care products.
The increase in production, consumption, and littering of face masks was added to the list of environmental challenges, due to the addition of plastic particles waste in the environment.
In the primary stage of treatment, physical processes are employed to remove oils, sand, and other large solids using conventional filters, clarifiers, and settling tanks.
[117][122] Many studies show that while wastewater treatment plants certainly reduce the microplastic load on waterways, with current technological developments they are not able to clean the waters fully of this pollutant.
[135] In one incident on 24 July 2012, 150 tonnes of nurdles and other raw plastic material spilled from a shipping vessel off the coast near Hong Kong after a major storm.
When these products are used, the microplastics go through the water filtration system and into the ocean, but because of their small size they are likely to escape capture by the preliminary treatment screens on wastewater plants.
The microplastics are such a concern because it is difficult to clean them up due to their size, so humans can try to avoid using these harmful plastics by purchasing products that use environmentally safe exfoliates.
[8][159] Controlled studies on fiber-containing land-applied wastewater sludges (biosolids) applied to soil reported semiquantitative[clarification needed] recoveries of the fibers a number of years after application.
[175] This discovery was entirely serendipitous, as the research team had developed a detailed molecular separation process for the components of fish skin with the primary objective of isolating chitin from a vertebrate for the first time.
[176] A study done at the Argentinean coastline of the Rio de la Plata estuary, found the presence of microplastics in the guts of 11 species of coastal freshwater fish.
[190] When exposed to microplastics, bivalves also experience oxidative stress, indicating an impaired ability to detoxify compounds within the body, which can ultimately damage DNA.
[194] Marine biologists in 2017 discovered that three-quarters of the underwater seagrass in the Turneffe Atoll off the coast of Belize had microplastic fibers, shards, and beads stuck to it.
[237] In February 2013 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched its "Trash-Free Waters" initiative to prevent single-use plastic wastes from ending up in waterways and ultimately the ocean.
[239] EPA also funded various projects in the San Francisco Bay Area including one that is aimed at reducing the use of single-use plastics such as disposable cups, spoons and straws, from three University of California campuses.
[241] Global advocacy aimed at achieving the target of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 14 hopes to prevent and significantly reduce all forms of marine pollution by 2025.
[242] The Clean Oceans Initiative is a project launched in 2018 by the public institutions European Investment Bank, Agence Française de Développement and KfW Entwicklungsbank.
Their goal was to provide up to €2 billion in lending, grants and technical assistance until 2023 to develop projects that removed pollution from waterways (with a focus on macroplastics and microplastics) before it reached the oceans.
[12] The effort focuses on initiatives that demonstrate efficient methods of minimising plastic waste and microplastics output, emphasising on riverine and coastal areas.
[244][249] By the beginning of 2022, more than 80% of this target was achieved, with €1.6 billion being used in long-term financing for public and private sector initiatives that minimise the discharge of plastics, microplastics, and other pollutants through enhanced solid waste, wastewater, and storm water management.
[162][272] The European Commission's Circular Economy Action Plan sets out mandatory requirements for the recycling and waste reduction of key products e.g. plastic packaging.
