Toxicologia Ambiental e Analítica

Current Advances in Strategies to Mitigate the Impacts of Micro/Nano Plastics: A Review

Abstract

Oluniyi Solomon Ogunola

With the increasing demand for and reliance on plastics as an everyday item, and rapid increase in their production and subsequent indiscriminate disposal, the environmental implications of plastics are of growing concern. Given that plastic polymers are highly resistant to degradation, the influx of these persistent, complex materials is a risk to human and environmental health. Microplastics is described as a truly heterogeneous mixture of particles ranging in size form a few microns to several millimetres in diameter; including particles of various shapes from completely spherical to elongated fibres. Microplastic pollution has been reported on a global scale from the poles to the equator. The main route of concern is currently as a consequence of ingestion, which could lead to physical and toxicological effects on aquatic organisms.

To this end, in order to minimize the negative impacts posed by plastic pollution (microplastics), a plethora of strategies have been developed at various levels to reduce and manage the plastic wastes. The main objective of this paper is to review some of the published literatures on management measures of plastic wastes.