Microplastics as contaminants in Indian environment: a review

Abstract

The increased production and consumption scale of plastic items has led to the generation of microplastics (MPs), an emerging class of contaminants, in our environment. MPs are plastic particles less than 5 mm in size and could originate due to primary and secondary sources. The primary ones are generated as such in the MP size range while the secondary MPs are a result of fragmentation of larger plastic particles which eventually enters the aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric environments. The increasing concern of MP pollution in every compartment of our environment is being globally explored, with relatively fewer studies in India. Among the total studies published on MP prevalence in the Indian environments, marine systems have received significantly higher attention compared to the other compartments like freshwater, atmosphere, terrestrial and human consumables. This review article is an effort to present current understanding of MP pollution in aquatic systems, terrestrial systems, atmosphere and human consumables of India by reviewing available scientific literature. Along with this, the review also focuses on identification of the gap areas in current knowledge and highlights way forward for future research. This would further help in meeting the goals of this emergent pollutant management.

Keywords: Aquatic systems; Atmosphere; Emerging contaminant; Human consumables; Microplastics; Terrestrial systems.

Fig. 1

Microplastic studies conducted in India. a The number of studies conducted year-wise; b percentage of studies conducted in different compartments; c percentage of studies conducted in different regions

Fig. 2

MP studies conducted in different parts of India (highlighted with a red star). The geographic map was developed using ArcGIS Desktop Advanced 10.8.1

Fig. 3

Gap areas in the microplastic research in Indian environments that need immediate attention