A review on the presence of microplastics in environmental matrices within Southeast Asia: elucidating risk information through an analysis of microplastic characteristics such as size, shape, and type

Abstract

Microplastics’ ecotoxicological potential in almost all ecosystems makes them a global environmental issue. This review evaluates Southeast Asian microplastic contamination data from 2013 to 2023. This evaluation examined 285 research publications from Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect, mostly on sediment and water matrices. Based on their size, shape, polymer type, and potential risks from polymer hazards in Southeast Asian countries, this analysis assesses microplastic pollution in biota, sediment, water, and other environmental matrices. The majority of microplastics in this region are small (46%) and large (32%). Within the biota matrix, small microplastics (SMP) and large microplastics (LMP) dominated. Fibers predominated in all matrices, particularly the biota matrix. Polyethylene emerged as the most abundant polymer type (22%), found in all four matrices. Despite being less abundant, polyurethane and polyamide have high hazard scores, raising ecological concerns due to their detrimental effects on environmental matrices. According to the analyzed data, Southeast Asian countries face significant risks due to high levels of microplastic contamination in water, sediments, biota, and other matrices. However, there are noticeable discrepancies in Southeast Asian data, indicating progress in microplastic research, with most data coming from Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines and little information in the literature regarding microplastic contamination from East Timor, Laos, Brunei, Myanmar, and Cambodia.