Current practices and future perspectives of microplastic pollution in freshwater ecosystems in China

The pollution of marine and freshwater environments by plastic waste has attracted increasing public attention worldwide in recent years. China is the world's second largest economy and contributes the largest mass of mismanaged plastic waste. In this review, we collected accessible data on the abundance of microplastics in China's freshwater ecosystems, analyzing this pollutant in the samples of waters, sediments and biota. The results showed that microplastics are pervasive in surveyed freshwater environments, and a high abundance of microplastics was found in estuaries and inland waters located in populated urban areas. Moreover, many freshwater bivalve and fish have been found to uptake microplastics. Although similar sampling and laboratory processing methods were applied for microplastic research in different aquatic ecosystems, methods of investigation and units reported by different authors should be standardized. The characteristics of the detected microplastics showed that small size (<1 mm), fibers and transparency were the most common features in China's freshwater ecosystems and that PP and PE were the most common types of microplastics. The current situation of microplastic pollution in China is largely caused by inefficient administration and lack of applicable legislation and regulations. Therefore, we suggest that the Chinese government need to be more active in dealing with the plastic pollution issues, and increase education and publicity to promote people's awareness of environmental pollution caused by microplastics.