Microplastics is a plastic particle with a diameter less than 5 mm, which is the main carrier of pollution. A small microplastics means a higher specific surface area (specific surface area refers to the surface area per unit mass of porous solid matter). The larger the specific surface area, the stronger the ability to adsorb pollutants.

First of all, there are a large number of persistent organic pollutants such as PCBs and bisphenol A in the environment (these organic pollutants are often hydrophobic, that is, they are not easily soluble in water and are easily diluted by water). Once microplastics encounters these pollutants, they just gather to form an organic pollution sphere. Microplastics is equivalent to a pile of pollutants, which can wander around in the environment.

In 2004, Thompson of Plymouth University in England published a paper on plastic fragments in seawater and sediments in Science magazine, which attracted wide attention from all walks of life because of the widespread existence of microplastics in marine environment and various definite and uncertain hazards to organisms.

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Main categories:

Microplastics is divided into primary microplastics and secondary microplastics:

Newborn microplastics refers to the industrial products of plastic particles discharged into the water environment through rivers and sewage treatment plants. Such as microplastics particles contained in cosmetics or plastic particles and resin particles used as industrial raw materials.

Secondary microplastics is a plastic particle formed by the splitting and volume reduction of large plastic wastes through physical, chemical and biological processes.

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