(637a) Microplastic Human Dietary Uptake from 1990 to 2018 Grew across 109 Major Developing and Industrialized Countries: Halving By Plastic Debris Removal

Microplastics (MPs) have been identified as emerging environmental and public health concerns over recent years [1]. These tiny particulates originate from the mismanaged plastic wastes from landfills and can be transported through air, water, and soil, posing environmental hazards to these earth counterparts and ecosystems. Industrial activities and developments can promote plastic waste generation and solid waste emissions to natural environments if mismanaged, exacerbating the MP level to surge by 50% in 2040 globally [2]. These tiny pollutants have been identified as potential public health hazards, and circumventing MP uptake demands holistic solutions to address both the existence and root causes of MP generation, which remains an unmet research need.

Navigating both the pathways and amounts of MP uptake from diet and air is pivotal for crafting effective strategies to mitigate human exposure and its potential health burdens [3, 4]. Dietary MPs involve those accumulated in foodstuffs and the material losses from plastic use in food and drink production, processing, and final product packaging [5], while airborne MPs mainly originate from the abrasion of plastic materials, such as those in tire and blown-ups from aquatic plastic particulates. One major source of aquatic MPs is mismanaged plastic waste runoffs from landfills or open dumping, which enter the surface water and generate macroplastic and MP via natural degradation [6]. These plastic particulates can contaminate water systems, but a holistic understanding of the aquatic MP amount transferred to humans remains uninvestigated due to the lack of explicit investigation into how these plastic particulates undergo nutrient transfer and are distributed at each trophic level. Dietary and airborne MP human uptake and their reduction strategies should consider local economies and industrial developments. As the UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) suggested, prevention of MP generation and exposure demands global collaboration in waste management, yet current practices mostly remain localized and lack a basic understanding of the spatial variability of plastic pollution [2].

Our work maps the MP transfer and exposure to humans by dietary and inhalation uptake in every five-year increment from 1990 to 2015 and in 2018 across 109 investigated countries by collating the existing investigation on MP exposure to humans with human air inhalation and domestic dietary habits. Our study found that rapidly industrializing countries, such as Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, topped the MP uptake globally, originating from high seafood consumption. These regions demand minimizing MP contents in raw foodstuffs, exposure through packaging materials, and release during food processing. Moreover, replacing single-use polyolefin plastic material with innovative, highly degradable alternatives, such as edible biobased materials, could help minimize the release of MPs from packaging materials, especially in beverages. Globally, African and Asian countries, such as Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, identified as hotspots of MP uptake mainly from particulates in foodstuffs, demand government incentives to halt MP entry into the food web. Our study also captured the country-level MP exposure to provide technology implications for reducing its potential public health risks. Governments in developing and industrialized countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and North and South America should incentivize the removal of free plastic debris from fresh- and saltwater environments through advanced water treatment and effective solid waste management practices.

References

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