Microplastics (MPs) and surfactants are generally recognized as emerging contaminants with complicated ecotoxicological impacts. The majority of study data refers to laundry wastewater as a substantial source of MPs and surfactants in the aquatic system, which reaches aquatic environments through sewer discharges even when wastewater treatment facilities retain them. This study focused on releasing and removing contaminants from laundry wastewater, particularly MPs and surfactants. The electrocoagulation method was used to remove the pollutants from laundry wastewater. According to the results, a reference load of 2 kg of synthetic materials releases 92,700 to 1,14,300 synthetic microfibers (MFs). MFs, surfactants, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency are higher at neutral pH. The percentage removal efficiency of MFs, surfactants, and COD was 97.9%, 91.2%, and 86.3%, respectively, at an operating time of 25 min, a current density of 300 A/m² with optimum power consumption. The total operation cost of laundry wastewater treatment by electrocoagulation was US$0.53 /m³. The readers will gain a complete understanding of the removal of MFs and surfactants from laundry wastewater using the electrocoagulation technique.

Although microplastics (MP) have been documented in estuarine habitats, limited published data exist for New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts hampering meaningful, regional comparison with other geographies. Here we synthesize previously unpublished data from several independent baseline studies spanning three estuarine systems including Great Bay Estuary (GBE), Hampton-Seabrook Estuary (HSE), and Great Marsh Estuary (GME) to compare geographic data for MP to other published regional studies. Data include water column in GBE (n = 179 from 7 sites), surface waters and salt marsh sediment cores from HSE (n = 72 water samples from 12 sites and n = 77 sediment cores from 8 sites), and surface waters from GME (n = 42 water samples at 17 sites). Samples were analyzed for MP characteristics initially via either automated confocal microscopy or light microscopy, allowing initial estimation of the number and size distribution of putative MP. Particles from representative samples were analyzed using laser direct infrared spectrometry (LDIR) to determine elemental analysis. MP were found in > 98% of samples collected including surface waters, water column, and marine sediments. Counts ranged from 1 to 144,000 MP particles m^-3 and mean MP differed significantly among regions, sites within regions, and across years. In the GBE water column, MP tended to peak during June-August in 4 of the 5 years studied. Most MP were roughly circular and ~50 μm in diameter. LDIR confirmed that many types of plastics are in these estuarine waters and also revealed that despite the digestion processes, biogenic materials often remained, predominantly chitin, rubber, wood, and coal. These data allow us to address the realistic levels of risk that estuarine MP pose in NH and northern MA estuaries and can be used to populate existing hydrodynamic models that will predict the tributary sources, movements, and fate of MP within these aquatic habitats.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered an unprecedented need for single-use face masks, leading to an alarming increase in plastic waste globally. Consequently, the improper disposal of face masks has added to the existing burden of plastic pollution in the oceans. However, the complete environmental and marine ecotoxicological impact remains unclear. This study aims to investigate the ecotoxicological impact caused by the weathering of disposable face masks (DFMs) in the marine environment on mussels Mytilus galloprovincialis (M. galloprovincialis) by assessing biochemical, cytotoxic, and genotoxic effects. The mask leachate was analysed for the presence of nano and microplastics. Furthermore, the leachate was used in in vivo and in vitro toxicity bioassays to assess its impacts on M. galloprovincialis. The in vivo exposure of M. galloprovincialis to face mask leachate for 14 days induced a significant increase in catalase (CAT) activity in mussel gills, although not enough to prevent oxidative damage to cell membranes. DNA damage was also registered in mussel haemocytes after in vivo exposure to mask leachate. The in vitro Neutral Red (NR) cytotoxicity assay indicated that leachate concentrations ≤ 0.5 g/L^-1 pose a significant risk to the health of mussel haemocytes, which seems a reliable tool for the cytotoxicity impact assessment of face masks in the marine environment. Therefore, the leachate obtained from face masks in seawater causes oxidative stress, oxidative damage, cytotoxicity, and genotoxicity in M. galloprovincialis, indicating that the plastic burden generated by DFMs in the ocean and its subsequent weathering represents a ubiquitous and invisible threat to the marine biota.

The ubiquity of plastics in environments worldwide is raising concerns about their toxicity to organisms. The purpose of this study was to investigate simple means to determine the exposure and effects of nanoplastics (NPs) in the freshwater mussels Elliptio complanata (E. complanata). NP tissue levels were determined using a plasmonic nanogold sensor probe and effects were determined using the refractive index (RI) and thiol-reaction rates (TRR) in protein-dense tissue extracts. This method was adapted to quantitatively measure the concentration of NPs in tissues using a salting-out extraction in the presence of acetonitrile (ACN). Concentrated solutions of albumin were first spiked with NPs to evaluate changes in RI and TRR to determine crowding effects. The data revealed that NPs readily decreased the RI and TRR in albumin in vitro. These three simple assays were then applied on freshwater mussels caged for 3 months at various sites in a largely populated area. Mussels downstream of the city center and found at the street runoff discharge sites were highly contaminated by NPs and the RI and TRR were also reduced. In conclusion, simple and readily accessible assays to assess the NP contamination based on a visual nanogold sensor technology, and the effects of plastics are proposed for freshwater mussels.