Airborne Plastic: Can Microplastics in the Air Affect Human Health?

Based on a recent study, human activity has resulted in a global plastic cycle, which is similar to natural cycles like the carbon cycle, in which plastic moves through the atmosphere, seas, and soil. According to one physicist, the result is the planet's "plastification."

Plastic Waste

According to the report, plastic waste is one of the most critical environmental problems of the twenty-first century. It suggests that the billions of tons of plastic dumped in the oceans and on land and broken down into small fragments are being hurled back into the air by road traffic and winds passing overseas and farmland.

Exposure to Microplastics

People are now breathing, drinking, and eating microplastics, and other evidence indicates that pollution levels will begin to increase exponentially. "This raises concerns about the effect of accumulated plastics in the environment on human health," the scientists said. Inhalation of particles can irritate lung tissue and cause severe illnesses."

"What we see right now is the accumulation of mismanaged plastics just going up," said Prof Natalie Mahowald of Cornell University in the United States, who was part of the study team. Some predict a tenfold rise [over the next ten years].

"However, if we treat our plastics properly before they collect in the ocean and swirl about everywhere, we might be able to fix this before it becomes a major issue."

She believes that removing ocean plastic will help minimize the amount of plastic that ends up in the atmosphere and that more biodegradable plastics could be part of the solution.

The study, which was presented in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, looked at airborne microplastics, which have received much less attention than plastic found in oceans and waterways.

Related Article: Seafood's Secret Ingredient: Microplastic

Experimental Process

The team had more than 300 airborne microplastics samples from 11 sites across the western United States, making it the finest dataset available worldwide. These served as the foundation for the first research of its kind, which used atmospheric modeling to quantify various contributions.

The scientists discovered that almost none of the floating microplastics originated from plastic being dumped in cities and towns, but rather from road traffic and winds whipping up plastic fragments already in the atmosphere around oceans and agriculture.

"Obviously, we figured urban centers would be a much safer source, but that didn't work out," Mahowald said. "With this collection of results, resuspension [of microplastics] makes the most sense."

Findings

They discovered that highways were the most critical influence in the western United States, accounting for around 85% of the microplastics in the air. They are likely to contain tire and brake pad debris from cars, as well as ground-down litter plastics. The seas are estimated to cause 10% of airborne plastics in the western United States, and soils accounted for 5%.

Although roads are likely to be the primary driver of airborne plastics in Europe, South America, and Australia, plastic particles blown up from fields could be a far bigger force in Africa and Asia, according to the researchers' global modeling work.

According to the research, smaller microplastics will last in the atmosphere for a week, long enough to be blown around continents. It also revealed that plastic waste would enter Antarctica.

The scientists admitted that the estimates were subject to considerable uncertainty due to a lack of observations in parts of the planet. Their research reveals a scarcity of evidence on plastics in the atmosphere above the oceans. They said that research into the causes and effects of microplastics in the environment should be prioritized.

"Everything humans have been doing for decades now is what I call a 'plastification' of the landscape and oceans," said Prof Andreas Stohl of the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, who was not part of the study team.

"The analysis supports the global-scale existence of microplastic transport in the atmosphere and does a decent job of outlining highly important and worrying possibilities, but more measurement evidence is required to get a clearer understanding of the sources," according to the researchers.

Worrying Truth

"People should be worried about airborne microplastics," Stohl said. For one, they will inhale it, which will almost certainly have health consequences. Second, since the environment is an excellent dealer. It transports plastic particles to places we don't want them, including farm areas, national parks, lakes, the Arctic, and even Antarctica. We would eventually have incredibly high concentrations of plastics all over the place."

From the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest seas, microplastic waste has been discovered. Scientists characterized the discovery of tiny plastic particles in human placentas in December as "a matter of great concern."

Also Read: Chemical Recycling Technology: Can This Eliminate the Single-Use Plastic Problem?

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