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Microplastics in the environment: The role of polymer science
Sergey V Lyulin1, Andrey A Gurtovenko2, Francesco Saliu3
1Microplastics 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.
None:
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.
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