Table 1.

Various sources, composition, and conformation of microplastics.

Sources	Composition and structure	Shape	Size	Reference
Shower gels	Polyethylene	Irregular shapes	422 ± 185 μm	(Bashir et al., 2021)
Facial cleansers	Polyethylene	Spherical and irregular shapes	Higher than 0.5 mm	(Fendall and Sewell, 2009)
Car tires	Polypropylene/acrylic/nylon/rubber	Fragment/fiber	Higher than 500 μm	(Tamis et al., 2021)
Beverage products	Polyamide/acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene/poly(ester-amide)/poly(ethylene terephthalate)	Fibers/fragments	0.1-3.0 mm	(Jin et al., 2021)
Facial scrubs	Facial scrubs	Facial scrubs	Facial scrubs	(Zhou et al., 2023)
Textile industrial area	Polyester	Fiber	0.1-1.0 mm	(Balasaraswathi and Rathinamoorthy, 2022; Periyasamy and Tehrani-Bagha, 2022)
Cosmetic products	Polyethylene	Irregular/granular/spherical	54-115 μm	(Bashir et al., 2021; Cubas et al., 2022)
Plastic mulch	Polyester, polypropylene	Fiber/fragment/foam/film	Higher than 500 μm	(Khalid et al., 2023)
Industrial sources	Polyethylene/nylon/polypropylene	Films/fragments/lines/granules/sheets/lines	0.5-1.0 mm	(Long et al., 2021; Osman et al., 2023)
Mariculture activities	Polyester/polypropylene/polyethylene/polyamide (nylon)/polystyrene/polyoxymethylene/polyetherurethane/polybutylene terephthalate	Fragments/flakes/fiber/foam	Less than 0.25 mm	(Chen et al., 2018; Xu et al., 2024)
Anthropogenic activity	Polystyrene/polyethylene/polypropylene	Fiber/styrofoam/fragment/film/pellet	Less than 0.5 mm	(Lin et al., 2022; Han et al., 2023)
Fishing and shipping activities	Ionomer surlyn/acrylic (acryl fiber)/polyetherimide/polyphenylene sulphide/ethylene vinyl alcohol/acrylonitrile/nylon/polyisoprene/polyvinyl chloride/ethylene–vinyl acetate/polyurethane	Fiber/pellet/fragment	1489 ± 1017 μm	(Wright et al., 2021; Alberghini et al., 2022)
Urban sewage	Polyethylene/polystyrene/polypropylene	Fragment/lines/foam/film	1.0-4.75 mm	(Dalu et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2022)
Domestic, agriculture effluent, industry, upstream inflow, and airborne settlement	Polyethylene terephthalate/polyethylene/polypropylene/polystyrene/polycarbonate/polyvinyl chloride/cellulose propionate/polyamide/ethylene–vinyl acetate copolymer	Pellets/fragments	0.05-5.0 mm	(Osman et al., 2023)
Local inputs/ocean transport	Polypropylene/polyester/polyester/polyethylene	Fiber/flake/film/granule	2.0-2.5 mm	(Li et al., 2020; Long et al., 2022)
Artificial ecosystems	Polyethylene/rayon/polypropylene	Fiber/flake/film/granule	Less than 1.0 mm	(Pandey et al., 2022)