A Mini Review on Recent Insight into Degradation of Environmental Plastics

Abstract

Plastic trash is inadvertently released into the environment, where it deteriorates in mechanical and physicochemical qualities and forms plastic particles that are referred to as microplastics when their size is less than 5 mm. Microplastic pollution has been documented in a variety of environments recently and is now thought to pose a risk to both human and environmental health. There is a perception that plastics are a threat to the environment due to their difficulty in degrading. However, little is yet known about how plastics degrade in the environment and how microplastics originate. The purpose of this review is to summarize the environmental degradation of plastics and identified mechanisms of plastic degradation. Efforts has been put on to understand the recent development in the field of MP degradation. Future studies should pinpoint the most important environmental factors and properties of MP that influence the degradation rate of MPs.