Microplastics in the environment: The role of polymer science

Sergey V Lyulin¹, Andrey A Gurtovenko², Francesco Saliu³, Paolo Galli⁴, Dinesh Surroop⁵, Aleksander A Yaroslavov⁶, Svetlana G Radionova⁷, Tatiana A Kuznetsova⁸, Jose M Kenny⁹

Affiliations

¹ Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; Department of Chemistry, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Branch of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" - Institute of Macromolecular Compounds, St.Petersburg, Russia. Electronic address: sergey.v.lyulin@gmail.com.
² Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; Branch of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" - Institute of Macromolecular Compounds, St.Petersburg, Russia. Electronic address: a.gurtovenko@biosimu.org.
³ Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.saliu@unimib.it.
⁴ Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: paolo.galli@unimib.it.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius. Electronic address: d.surroop@uom.ac.mu.
⁶ Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; Department of Chemistry, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: yaroslav@belozersky.msu.ru.
⁷ Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: sqr@rpn.gov.ru.
⁸ Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: kuznetsova.ta@rpn.gov.ru.
⁹ Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; European Center for Nanostructured Polymers, University of Perugia, Terni, Italy. Electronic address: josekenny@yahoo.com.

PMID: 40818392
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180267

Microplastics in the environment: The role of polymer science

Sergey V Lyulin et al. Sci Total Environ. 2025.

. 2025 Oct 10:998:180267.

doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180267. Epub 2025 Aug 15.

Authors

Sergey V Lyulin¹, Andrey A Gurtovenko², Francesco Saliu³, Paolo Galli⁴, Dinesh Surroop⁵, Aleksander A Yaroslavov⁶, Svetlana G Radionova⁷, Tatiana A Kuznetsova⁸, Jose M Kenny⁹

Affiliations

¹ Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; Department of Chemistry, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Branch of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" - Institute of Macromolecular Compounds, St.Petersburg, Russia. Electronic address: sergey.v.lyulin@gmail.com.
² Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; Branch of Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute named by B.P. Konstantinov of National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute" - Institute of Macromolecular Compounds, St.Petersburg, Russia. Electronic address: a.gurtovenko@biosimu.org.
³ Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: francesco.saliu@unimib.it.
⁴ Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. Electronic address: paolo.galli@unimib.it.
⁵ Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius. Electronic address: d.surroop@uom.ac.mu.
⁶ Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; Department of Chemistry, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: yaroslav@belozersky.msu.ru.
⁷ Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: sqr@rpn.gov.ru.
⁸ Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources, Moscow, Russia. Electronic address: kuznetsova.ta@rpn.gov.ru.
⁹ Microplastics Research Center, Yaroslav-the-Wise Novgorod State University, Veliky Novgorod, Russia; European Center for Nanostructured Polymers, University of Perugia, Terni, Italy. Electronic address: josekenny@yahoo.com.

PMID: 40818392
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2025.180267

Abstract

In this paper we highlight some fundamental aspects regarding the role of polymer science in the behavior of microplastics (MP) and in understanding the effects of MP on the environment and on the health of humans and other living species. We stress that MP is not just another type of microparticle that affects our environment. Instead, MP has polymer-specific interactions with the environment and living species, which cannot be fully understood without polymer science. We emphasize here the most important areas (nomenclature and terminology; MP's identification and characterization; fragmentation mechanism; environmental fate and transport; risk assessment; remediation; and alternative solutions) for the plastic waste and microplastics problem, which can be solved only through the combined efforts of all experts, including polymer scientists.

Keywords: Marine anthropogenic litter; Microplastics; Plastic treaty; Policy; Polymer science.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Microplastics in the environment: The role of polymer science

Affiliations

Microplastics in the environment: The role of polymer science

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

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