Key Laboratory of Urban Pollutant Conversion, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen, 361021, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
Bull Environ Contam Toxicol. 2021 Oct;107(4):577-584. doi: 10.1007/s00128-020-02820-1. Epub 2020 Mar 12.
Plastics are ubiquitous in the environment and have become a hot topic in academic circles. Extensive studies have focused on analytical methods, source, abundance, transport, fate, degradation of plastics in the environment and threats to natural surroundings, wildlife or even human health. However, characteristics of plastic pollution, which are critical to understand this emerging problem, remain unknown up to now. Here, this paper reviews the major characteristics of plastic pollution in the environment to enhance present understanding of this issue. These characteristics, including diversity, persistence, global issues, combined pollution and threats to organisms and human health, are critically summarized in this work. Further, "plastic cycle" in the environment, namely, aquatic, atmospheric, and terrestrial system, is also discussed in this review. Finally, we highlight current challenges of plastic pollution posed to the public and also recommend the research trends in future work.
塑料在环境中无处不在，已成为学术界的热门话题。广泛的研究集中在分析方法、来源、丰度、运输、环境中塑料的命运、降解以及对自然环境、野生动物甚至人类健康的威胁上。然而，到目前为止，仍不清楚塑料污染的特征，这些特征对于理解这一新兴问题至关重要。在这里，本文综述了环境中塑料污染的主要特征，以增强对这一问题的认识。这些特征包括多样性、持久性、全球性问题、复合污染以及对生物和人类健康的威胁，在这项工作中得到了批判性的总结。此外，本文还讨论了环境中的“塑料循环”，即水生、大气和陆地系统。最后，我们强调了当前塑料污染给公众带来的挑战，并建议了未来工作中的研究趋势。
