“Microplastic pollution presents a formidable challenge due to its pervasive nature and complex origins. As long as plastic products continue to exist in various aspects of our lives, microplastics are inevitable.
“Microplastic pollution is the widespread distribution of tiny plastic particles in oceans, freshwater bodies, drinking water, air, and terrestrial environments. These particles, often less than 5mm in size, originate from a multitude of sources, including the breakdown of larger plastic items, microbeads in personal care products, and fibres from synthetic textiles. Microplastics can be ingested by marine life, accumulate in food chains, and enter human bodies through contaminated seafood, water, and air.
“The deep-sea is a global sink for plastics. Over 10 million tons of plastics are estimated to continue entering the world’s oceans annually. The laundering of 5-6kg of synthetic clothing will shed about 6,000,000 polyester fibres and 700,000 acrylic fabrics into the sewage system. The effluents and sludge of wastewater treatment plants still contain large quantities of microplastics, which are being released into the aquatic or soil environment after discharge or application to soil. The use of plastic bottles, containers, pipes, toys, face masks, tool coatings, and paints are releasing microplastics into water, air and soil. Microplastics are being released into the air from industrial processes like grinding, incineration; from household items like synthetic clothing during wear, abrasion, drying processes; and from outdoor activities like tyre abrasion and traffic emissions.
“Despite significant progress, addressing microplastic pollution is challenging. Limited understanding of the long-term effects of microplastics on ecosystems and human health, as well as gaps in monitoring and detection methods, pose obstacles to effective management strategies. Besides, the sheer volume of plastic waste generated globally, coupled with the durability and persistence of plastics in the environment, contributes to the difficulty in its effective management and mitigation.
“It is extremely difficult to remove them from the environment manually because of the small sizes and low visibility. Furthermore, the diverse sources and pathways through which microplastics enter ecosystems make it challenging to implement targeted solutions. Another difficulty is related to ideology. People don’t understand the ubiquitousness of microplastics and are even less informed about their potential impacts. This ignorance represents the most formidable challenge.
“Microplastics can transport across different water, air, and soil mediums, leading to their increasing accumulation in all the environmental compartments (i.e. water, soil, and air) and the correlated biosphere globally. This is a global issue and long-lasting solutions require international collaboration using multidisciplinary approaches for reducing the discharge of microplastics and detecting, monitoring, and mitigating them in the environment.
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“The global nature of the issue requires coordinated action and cooperation among governments, industries, academia, and civil society to implement comprehensive solutions. These may include the development of advanced filtration systems to capture microplastics from wastewater, the implementation of policies to regulate the use of microplastics in consumer products, and the promotion of sustainable practices to reduce plastic consumption and waste generation. Other integrated strategies include clean-up activities, effective source control, improved plastic waste management, development of biodegradable (bio)plastics, and advanced technologies for conversion or degradation of (micro)plastics pollutants.
“Certainly the wider community can choose to circumvent the unpredictable impacts of microplastics by reducing their generation at the source. For example, major supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths in recent years have moved away from promoting the use of plastic shopping bags.
“As for us, the scientific researchers, we have chosen to confront these impossible hurdles head-on, continuously developing new degradation technologies to tackle microplastics. For instance, we are developing efficient catalysts and utilising external driving forces such as light, low-temperature hydrothermal processes, and electricity to degrade microplastics and, where possible, convert them into useful chemicals.
“However, we acknowledge that existing technologies are not yet fully mature, and their efficiency is not sufficiently high, indicating that there is still a long road ahead.
“By fostering collaboration and innovation, we can work towards a future where microplastic pollution is effectively mitigated, and our ecosystems and communities are better protected for generations to come.”
