Investigation of Pollution Caused by Microplastics, Their Transporting Effects on Different Pollutants and Possible Treatments: A Review

The use of plastics in everyday life is a recent and enormously growing trend on the planet, due to the comfort, convenience, and safety that the material provides. The fate of all plastics ever created is the same, sooner or later they will reach their deposition sites and be divided into smaller plastics, generating microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs). These plastic fragments, by themselves, are dangerous toxic pollutants in the environment. In addition, recent research reports that MPs have the ability to adsorb various contaminants and transport them to different ecosystems. To avoid the release of MPs into the environment, the wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) seek technologies that can separate and degrade this plastic material through advanced oxidation processes, biological treatments, adsorption on green algae, and other treatment alternatives. In this context, the objective of this review is to provide information on the situation of MPs pollution and recommendations for plastic removal treatment.