Airborne Microplastics in Indoor and Outdoor Environments of a Developing Country in South Asia: Abundance, Distribution, Morphology, and Possible Sources.

Microplastics are in the air

31 May 2023

The risk of breathing in tiny pieces of plastic floating in the air is higher indoors than outdoors.

Microplastics are a major environmental and health concern. Most research to date has focused on microplastics in the oceans, but the inhalation of airborne microplastics could be one of the main ways they enter the human body.

Now, a team led by researchers from Griffith University in Australia has sampled airborne microplastics at a diverse range of sites in Sri Lanka — from a high-density urban area to a low-density wetland in a national park.

They discovered concentrations of microplastics were higher indoors than outdoors. Furthermore, the most common type of microplastic was polyethylene terephthalate (PET), indicating that textiles could be a major source.

The researchers call for ongoing monitoring of airborne microplastics to better understand their distribution and their influence on human health.

Supported content

References

1. Environmental Science & Technology 56, 16676–16685 (2022). doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05885