Microplastic in Mangrove Water: Occurrence and Possible Remediation Through Biological and Technological Advancement

Large expanding mangroves are the natural assets of the coastal Global South. Being an ecotone habitat, mangroves lie between the marine and estuarine interfaces, thus accumulating numerous hazardous materials from both sources, including microplastics (MPs, <5 mm). The occurrence of varieties of MP polymer from global mangrove ecosystems and its ecological resilience toward unfavorable conditions can be interpreted that mangrove itself can able to trap and modify the degradation of MPs from aquatic surroundings. But the exclusive and concerned remediation plans for mangrove environment are still very limited. The removal of MPs from aquatic environments is a critical area of research to mitigate the slow destruction of biodiversity and human health, which is quite intangible with the fate of economic rise of the Global South. The quality water is a fundamental right for any people on earth; thus, it is very much alarming that being on the verge of climate crisis era, how long can we sustain our need for fresh drinkable water. MP pollution research in water medium is a relatively new problem, and still it boomed up as it is very much uncomfortable to us that MPs are present hypothetically in all of our plastic-made water bottles right now, and we are gulping down water with fragments of MPs in it unknowingly. Unscientific handling of plastic waste is the probable major cause of mangrove plastic pollution that results into mangrove pollution and create unsuitable polluted habitat for aquatic organism. The present book chapter aims to demonstrate the distribution of MP pollution in mangrove ecosystems of the Global South and try to enumerate the possible biological and technological methods to remove MPs from natural mangrove water environment. MP pollution was observed in global mangrove with predominance of fiber-shaped MPs and PE-type MP-polymer that originated from single-use plastics, domestic and industrial waste, etc. Several processed biological and technological remediation strategies has been proposed for removal of MPs from aquatic ecosystems, namely, biofilm culture, biochar, coagulation, filtration, adsorption, magnetic separation, and oxidation treatment. Additional challenges have also been discussed with advantages and disadvantages of the removal processes in mangrove ecosystem. The additional residue pollutant release, health hazard of organisms, operational cost, and sustainable use of the filtering methods are also discussed in comparative view to elucidate the possible suitable methods that can be applied in mangrove to reduce MP loads.