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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微塑料污染的管理和缓解现状


微塑料污染是由不可持续的塑料使用和处置引起的一个重大环境问题。这些微小的塑料颗粒 （<5 mm） 几乎在每个环境隔间中都被发现，目前认为在环境中去除它们是不可能的。由于担心微塑料对生态和健康的影响，微塑料在过去十年中受到了很多关注。然而，关于微塑料管理的研究有限。微塑料污染与塑料总污染直接相关，因此减少环境塑料垃圾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）以及升级再造，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，提高公众意识和开发可持续替代品。然而，微塑料污染的多方面性质无法通过独立使用这些策略来妥善解决，导致这些策略的有效性有限。因此，采用多学科方法整合上述策略来限制环境塑料输入并减少已经积累的塑料垃圾至关重要。本手稿为有效管理微塑料提供了一个框架，并对框架内的每项策略进行了全面讨论，包括政府、国际组织和公众为减少塑料垃圾而采取的潜在措施。 此外，它还为改进立法框架提供了建议，并确定了需要解决的微塑料清理技术和可持续塑料替代品方面的研究差距，以改善环境微塑料的管理。