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Microplastics in Urban Environments: Sources, Pathways, and Distribution

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Microplastics in Terrestrial Environments

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 95))

Abstract

Due to high-density anthropic activity, the urban environment is regarded as one of the major sources of microplastics (MPs). MPs can be produced in the process of tire wear, landfill and sewage treatment, construction, industrial activity, household laundry, and so on. According to recent studies, MPs have been widely detected in urban atmosphere, ground surface dust or soil, and municipal rivers. Due to lightweight and low density, MPs can easily float and transform between different environmental matrices in urban ecosystems. Storm-water runoff is regarded as an important pathway of MP from land to urban rivers or coastal waters. By wind transportation, MPs on the municipal ground surface can be transferred to urban rivers or the atmosphere. After treating sewage treatment plants, concentrations of MPs can be extremely reduced in the discharged water but increased in the sludge. MPs have also been found in landfills and may leak into other environmental substrates. It can be concluded that MPs can migrate and transform among multiple urban environments through physical and biochemical drivers. Distribution and transformation of MPs are closely related to the urban ecological environment and also pose a potential risk on the health of urban residents. More research work needs to fully reveal the source and fate of MPs in urban environments.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support by the National Key Research and Development of China (No. 2018YFC1901004) and the National Science and Technology Major Project for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (No. 2018ZX07208008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Shanghai Key Laboratory for Urban Ecological Processes and Eco-Restoration, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Rong Qiu, Yang Song, Xiaoting Zhang, Bing Xie & Defu He

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  1. School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

    Defu He

  2. Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, China

    Yongming Luo

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Qiu, R., Song, Y., Zhang, X., Xie, B., He, D. (2020). Microplastics in Urban Environments: Sources, Pathways, and Distribution. In: He, D., Luo, Y. (eds) Microplastics in Terrestrial Environments. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 95. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/698_2020_447

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