Overview
- The peer‑reviewed paper in Journal of Hazardous Materials: Plastics synthesizes 89 studies published between 2010 and 2025.
- Evidence indicates microplastics reduce phytoplankton photosynthesis and impair zooplankton metabolism, weakening the biological carbon pump.
- The review highlights plastisphere microbes that can alter carbon and nitrogen cycles and may contribute to greenhouse gas production.
- Authors stress that the net climate effect remains unquantified and call for targeted experiments and modeling to measure impacts.
- The paper urges integrated policies to curb plastic pollution, noting rising production of 400–430 million tonnes a year, under 10% recycling, and over 8 billion tonnes produced with roughly 80% discarded or leaked.