Overview on the occurrence of microplastics in air and implications from the use of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic

Environmental pollution from microplastics (MPs) in air is a matter of growing concern because of human health implications. Airborne MPs can be directly and continuously inhaled in air environments. Especially high MPs contributions can be found in indoor air due to the erosion and breakage of consumer, domestic and construction products, although there is little information available on their sources and concentrations and the risks they might pose. This is in part due to the fact that sampling and analysis of airborne MPs is a complex and multistep procedure where techniques used are not yet standardized. In this study, we provide an overview on the pres-ence of MPs in indoor air, potential health impacts, the available methods for their sampling and detection and implications from the use of face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. (c) 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study provides an overview of the presence of MPs in indoor air, potential health impacts, available methods for sampling and detection, as well as implications from using face masks during the COVID-19 pandemic.