Background/Objectives
USEPA identifies sampling and analysis, sources, transport and fate, and assessment of ecological and human health as the priorities to collect scientific information for microplastics (USEPA, 2017). In recent years, knowledge has grown on characterizing microplastics such as their environmental distributions, shapes, chemical compositions, additives, and co-contaminants, particularly for particles in the micron scale (≥1 µm and ≤1 mm in size), which are relevant to human and ecological exposure risks. Consumer product use and wear, agricultural practice, and waste management processes (including sludge land applications and landfill leachates) contribute to widespread accumulation of microplastics in the environment, and to recent concerns about microplastics in groundwater (Viaroli et al., 2022). These scientific data are relevant to build management frameworks around monitoring, mitigating, and communicating microplastics.
Approach/Activities
While microplastics have grown into a global concern, what does it mean to remediation practitioners? This panel will invite panelists to discuss the latest development and status of microplastic sampling and analytical methods. With limitations and uncertainties, what management framework should be built to identify and prevent microplastic pollution? Also, what is the state of knowledge on removing microplastics from the environment? What are the outreaching/education activities that should be conducted prior to the establishment of regulatory guidance?
Results/Lessons Learned
The knowledge building so far is largely limited to academic research and from a limited number of grant sources. Standard operation procedures and trained professionals on this specific topic are lacking. This 100-min panel discussion will serve as a primer for future development of microplastics investigation and mitigation frameworks.