Читать книгу Plastic and Microplastic in the Environment - Группа авторов - Страница 43

Although the awareness of plastic pollution is increasing, the knowledge of the scale and severity of impacts on humans and ecosystems is limited. With the growing awareness of the potential threat and subsequent consequences of plastic pollution to human populations, more detailed investigations of these emerging pollutants are needed for effective management action and risk assessment to reduce the detrimental social, ecological, and economic impacts. Detailed studies on qualitative and quantitative estimation of macro‐ and microplastics with strong focus on predicting current and future trends across spatial and temporal scales, using portable sensors, etc., is imperative to address the global plastic wastes. Together with a detailed understanding and quantification of the origins, transport pathways, fluxes, and fate of these emerging pollutants, urgent steps to manage plastic wastes such as making laws banning plastic littering more stringent, providing for plastic waste management infrastructure, and making waste segregation at source mandatory, are required to determine and reduce the risks to marine ecosystem as well as all other ecosystems and humans as a whole.