Free refill drinking water kiosks are an essential sustainable water supply system for people in metropolitan areas worldwide. Despite their importance in urban settings, the impact of microplastic contamination remains elusive. Here, we investigated the occurrence and characteristics of microplastics in drinking-water samples collected from 22 self-distributed refill kiosks located in 14 multiuse urban parks spread across nine municipalities in Mexico City (Mexico). The results showed that microplastics were detected in all the samples, with an overall mean concentration of 74.18 ± 48.76 microplastics L⁻¹. The abundance of microplastics was significantly different between sampled kiosks, ranging from 23 ± 11.31 to 202 ± 28.39 microplastics L⁻¹. There were more fibrous microplastics (88%) than fragments (9%) and films (3%), with the majority (56%) being <200 μm in length. They were predominantly transparent (85%), with only a few being colored (15%; blue, red, green, and brown). Attenuated Total Reflection-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy further revealed microplastics of various polymer types, including polyvinyl alcohol, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinyl acetate, ethylene vinyl alcohol, acrylic, alkyd resin, and viscose. Based on our findings, drinking water from urban refill kiosks exposes children more than adults to microplastics. Furthermore, the steps that should be taken at urban refill kiosks to prevent microplastic pollution while offering recreational services to people have been highlighted. Therefore, this first study serves as a wake-up call to urban water management to improve the safety of water from emerging pollutants like microplastics in the infrastructure of refill kiosks.

Microplastics pollution in the environment is closely determined by the surrounding industrial and human activities. In present study, we investigated microplastics in water and sediment samples collected from a textile industrial area in Shaoxing city, China. The abundance of microplastics varied from 2.1 to 71.0 items/L in surface water samples, and from 16.7 to 1323.3 items/kg (dw) in sediment samples. The polymer type was dominated by polyester both in water (95%) and sediment (79%) samples. The majority of the detected microplastics was predominantly colored fibers smaller than 1 mm in diameter. The high level of microplastic pollution detected in local freshwater and sediment environments was attributed to the production and trading activities of textile industries, for which severe regulations should be envisaged in the future to effectively reduce the local microplastic pollution.

As a transitional zone between riverine and marine environments, an estuary plays an important role for the sources, accumulation and transport of microplastics. Although estuarine environments are hotspots of microplastic pollution, the correlation between microplastic pollution and aquatic organisms is less known. Here we investigated microplastic pollution in wild oysters Saccostrea cucullata from 11 sampling sites along the Pearl River Estuary in South China. The microplastic abundances in oysters ranged from 1.4 to 7.0 items per individual or from 1.5 to 7.2 items per gram tissue wet weight, which were positively related to those in surrounding waters. The oysters near urban areas contained significantly more microplastics than those near rural areas. Fibers accounted for 69.4% of the total microplastics in oysters. Microplastic sizes varied from 20 to 5000 μm and 83.9% of which were less than 100 μm. Light color microplastics were significantly more common than dark color ones. Based on the results, oysters are recommended as a biomonitor for the microplastic pollution in estuaries.

This study assesses the frequency, distribution, characteristics, and chemical composition of microplastics (MPs) in the gut of highly consumed fish species, namely leaping mullet (Chelon saliens), common carp (Cyprinus carpioi), and Caspian kutum (Rutilus caspicus), in the southern Caspian Sea biome. Fibers are found to be the only shape of MPs. Black MPs and polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyethylene terephthalate polymers are dominant. MP frequency is highest in leaping mullet's gut, while kutum specimens exhibited the lowest MP frequency, reflecting that leaping mullet is a neritic species and thus highly exposed to MP influx in shallow coastal water, while the other species are benthopelagic. The estimated condition index reflected a significant difference between the species, implying that MPs may pose adverse health impacts on leaping mullet and common carp, with no undesirable effect on Caspian kutum. No significant relationship exists between biological parameters and the MP frequency in the fish gut.

Microplastic accumulation in estuarine environments is considered the dominant input of land-based plastics into the oceans. In this study, the level of microplastic contamination was evaluated in 26 species of wild fish from the Pearl River Estuary, South China. Results showed that microplastics abundance ranged from 0.17 items individual⁻¹ (Boleophthalmus pectinirostris &Acanthogobius flavimanus) to 1.33 items individual⁻¹ (Plectorhynchus cinctus) among different species. The distribution of microplastic abundance in the gills and gastrointestinal tracts was not significantly different. Microplastics in gills are strongly related to the filtration area of gills in 15 fish species. Fibers were the dominant shapes accounting for 93.45% of the total shapes. The majority of microplastics were <3 mm in size. The most common polymer composition was polyethylene terephthalate (38.2%) and the most common color was black (30.36%). The findings of this study provide baseline data for microplastic contamination in wild fish from an urban estuary.

The air pollution in Jakarta has been recorded regularly; meanwhile, the information of atmospheric microplastics is still unknown. This study examines the characteristics (shape, size, and polymer) and deposition rate of atmospheric microplastics in Jakarta. The sample was obtained by putting a rain gauge for 12 months. All microplastic samples were analyzed for polymer using FT-IR. The lowest to the highest percentage of atmospheric microplastic based on shape were foam<fragment<fiber, meanwhile based on size were of 500–1000 μm < 300–500 μm. The detected polymers included polyester, polystyrene, polybutadiene, and polyethylene. The microplastics deposition rate ranged from 3 to 40 particles m⁻²d⁻¹, with an average of 15 particles m⁻²d⁻¹. The rainy season's deposition rate (23.422 particles m⁻²d⁻¹) was higher than the dry season (5.745 particles m⁻²d⁻¹). Our study proves that the atmospheric microplastic exists in Jakarta's air and needs to be considered to monitor by the government regularly.

This study evaluated the influence of foraging preferences on microplastic ingestion by six marine fish species from the Texas Gulf Coast. A total of 1381 fish were analyzed and 42.4% contained ingested microplastic, inclusive of fiber (86.4%), microbead (12.9% %), and fragment (<1.0%) forms. Despite a substantial overlap in diet, ordination of ingested prey items clustered samples into distinctive species groupings, reflective of the foraging gradient among species. Orthopristis chrysoptera displayed the lowest overall frequency of microplastic ingestion and the most distinctive ordination grouping, indicating their selective invertebrate foraging preferences. Cluster analysis of O. chrysoptera most closely classified microplastic with the ingestion of benthic invertebrates, whereas the ingestion of microplastic by all other species most closely classified with the ingestion of vegetation and shrimp. O. chrysoptera, as selective invertebrate foragers, are less likely to ingest microplastics than species exhibiting generalist foraging preferences and methods of prey capture.

Microplastics are a global concern, and yet, Philippine studies about it are still wanting. This study investigated microplastic ingestion among detritus-feeding mullet versus the herbivorous rabbitfish, and between freshwater and marine fishes. The first part aimed to compare microplastics in fishes’ guts differing in feeding guilds, individual sizes, and body weights. The second part compared MPs in fishes’ guts and their surrounding waters. Part one revealed that herbivores (58.57%) ingested more MPs than their detritivore-counterparts (30.0%). Pearson correlation, averaging 0.06, suggests a weak correlation between fish weight and MPs amount for both species. Part two showed marine fishes (66.0%) ingested more MPs than its freshwater counterparts (45.0%). A very weak correlation was observed between fish weight and amount of MPs ingested. Fish along the estuary ingested more MPs than those in other stations. No significant differences (p = 0.23) between the MPs in the water samples from each sampling stations was found.