Abstract
The prevalence of plastics has reached the point where it is difficult to live a day without using some type of plastic, whether fiber (e.g. clothing, facial masks), microbeads (e.g. personal care and cosmetic products), single-use products (e.g. water bottles, containers, plastic grocery bags), or large plastic goods (e.g. toys, mobile phones). Thus, efforts have been made to enhance public awareness about the consequences of the “Plastic Age” through various statistics on the mountainous plastic wastes on land and in the ocean and analytical reports on the consequent damages that occur through the life cycle of plastic products. Many governments and international organizations list plastic pollution at the top of their policy agenda, and the number of policies and regulations related to plastics has increased rapidly. To reduce the use of plastics in daily life globally, the nature of these policies has been strengthened from voluntary policies and recommendations to binding policies and enforcement.
Unfortunately, until recently, these regulations have been ineffective in many areas because plastic waste management conditions were not improved. Various reports confirm the increasing amount of plastic waste and pieces of microplastics, which occur everywhere: in deep oceans, Arctic snow and Antarctic ice, shellfish, table salt, drinking water, drifting in the air, in soil, and in flowing freshwater or groundwater aquifers. Moreover, the nature of plastic pollution has been complicated by the emergence of a more difficult type of pollution, microplastics, which arise through photo- and thermal degradation of large plastic wastes and technical advancements that have downsized polymer particles for different uses.
Surprisingly, however, little is known about microplastic (or even plastic) pollution. The nature of pollution, its different dispersal pathways, and how it is coming back to affect humans have been reported and discussed substantially. On the contrary, the impacts or consequences of plastics, and thus ways to resolve the plastic problem remain substantially unresolved. How harmful is microplastic pollution to human health and civilization? Is this a real threat to sustainable development? Is there an escape from today's plasticized world?
This special issue aims to address these questions. Campaigns and policies to reduce the use of plastics require more information on these issues to convince the public to take strong action, take responsibility, and accept some inconvenience. A review of the existing literature, as a starting point, confirmed that microplastics (and plastics) now occur everywhere, including within deserted areas without proximate anthropogenic activities, because they are not a point source or localized pollution. Similar to carbon dioxide or particulate matter, which cause air pollution, microplastics travel through different media and across territorial boundaries. Hence, it is critical to share relevant data among various professionals in different fields and in different regions under standardized research protocols and to establish definitions to produce global status mapping. The questions put forward in this special issue are not simple and cannot be answered in a single publication. This issue intends to provide a starting point for additional research with the goal of collectively approaching deplasticization of human civilization.
