Microplastics Pollution: Occurrence, Behaviour and Microbial Remediation Technologies
摘要
The particles that are having density greater than 5 mm are called as microplastics. They possess various physical and chemical properties like colour, density, chemical composition and size. Microplastics are great threat to the environment and cause adverse effects on the biological cells. Because of their small size, they get easily incorporated into bodies of living organisms and harm them at cellular levels. Microplastics possess hydrophobic nature, so they are able to attract different toxicants such as pharmaceuticals waste, heavy metals, plasticizers, etc. These contaminants enter the biological organisms and get transported through food chain and finally pass to humans. Mainly marine environment is responsible for microplastic pollution, but it was estimated that around 4–23 times more plastic is found in terrestrial environment. Research is going on to eradicate microplastic pollution, according to recent studies; microorganisms such as algae, bacteria and fungi are widely used in elimination of microplastics from surrounding environment. The enzymes present in these microbes are responsible for the degradation of waste related to microplatics. This chapter will discuss about the occurrence of microplastic in the surrounding environment along with their behaviour toward other living organisms residing in this environment. The different types of possible microbial remediation techniques for microplastics will also be discussed.