Microplastic pollution is a significant environmental issue caused by unsustainable plastic use and disposal. These tiny plastic particles (<5 mm) have been found in virtually every environmental compartment, and their environmental removal is currently deemed unfeasible. Microplastics have received a lot of attention over the past decade due to concerns over their ecological and health effects. However, limited research has been done on the management of microplastics. Microplastic pollution is directly related to total plastic pollution, so reducing environmental plastic waste is crucial for reducing microplastics. Overall plastic pollution can be reduced by different strategies including, effective plastic waste management encompassing the 4Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover) along with upcycling, implementing policies that govern the entire lifecycle of plastics promoting a circular economy for plastics, enhancing treatment technologies and clean-up, creating public awareness and developing sustainable alternatives. However, the multifaceted nature of microplastic contamination cannot be properly addressed by employing these strategies independently, leading to the limited effectiveness of these strategies. Therefore, a multidisciplinary approach integrating the above strategies to limit the environmental plastic input and reduces the plastic waste already accumulated is crucial. This manuscript provides a framework for effective management of microplastics and provides comprehensive discussions of each strategy within the framework including the potential measures by governments, international organizations and the public to reduce plastic waste. Moreover, it provides recommendations for improving the legislative framework and identifies the research gaps in the microplastic clean-up technologies and sustainable plastic alternatives that need to be addressed to improve management of environmental microplastics.

中文翻译：

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微塑料污染治理与减缓现状


微塑料污染是由不可持续的塑料使用和处置引起的重大环境问题。这些微小的塑料颗粒 (<5 mm) 几乎存在于每个环境分区中，目前认为从环境中去除它们是不可行的。由于人们对其生态和健康影响的担忧，微塑料在过去十年中受到了广泛关注。然而，对微塑料管理的研究有限。微塑料污染与塑料污染总量直接相关，因此减少环境塑料废物对于减​​少微塑料至关重要。总体塑料污染可以通过不同的策略来减少，包括有效的塑料废物管理，包括 4R（减少、再利用、回收、恢复）以及升级回收、实施管理塑料整个生命周期的政策、促进塑料循环经济、加强处理技术和清理、提高公众意识并开发可持续替代方案。然而，微塑料污染的多方面性质无法通过独立采用这些策略来正确解决，导致这些策略的有效性有限。因此，整合上述策略的多学科方法来限制环境塑料输入并减少已经积累的塑料废物至关重要。本手稿提供了有效管理微塑料的框架，并对框架内的每项策略进行了全面讨论，包括政府、国际组织和公众减少塑料废物的潜在措施。 此外，它还提供了改进立法框架的建议，并确定了微塑料清理技术和可持续塑料替代品方面的研究差距，需要解决这些问题以改善环境微塑料的管理。