Physical-chemical characterization of microplastics present in some exfoliating products from Spain

Plastic pollution in oceans is a global problem, with growing research efforts focusing on the threat of microplastics (<5 mm fractions). A source of microplastics pollution is derived from personal care products that contain polyethylene micro-spheres which are not captured by wastewater plants. In this work, ten personal care products (mainly scrubs) containing microplastics and marketed in Spain, were physico-chemically characterized. The obtained results proved that those microplastics had different particle size and are presented in high percentages in some cases, between 6 and 7% of the total product. Products with smaller particles usually showed higher concentrations than products with larger particles. Although all the microplastics were shown to be polyethylene, some impurities were observed that demonstrated the presence of silicates and oxides in the microplastics. Regards to morphology, the shape of the particles was irregular in general, although some completely spherical particles can be observed.