. 2021 Aug 18;12:724989. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.724989

Table 1.

Reported concentrations of microplastics in air, dust, drinking water, sea food, food, beverages and human samples.

Sample type	Location	Polymer type	Size	Concentration	Reference
Air
Indoor	Aarhus, Denmark	Polyester, PE, nylon	0.004-0.398 mm	1.7-16.2 particles/m³	(43)
	Edinburgh, UK	PET, PU	<5 mm	1666-1671 particles/m^2/d	(49)
	Paris, France	Not reported	0.005-0.6 mm	1586 – 11,130 particles/m^2/d	(50)
Outdoor	USA	Cotton, polyster, nylon, polyolefin, PTFE, PE	0.004 -3 mm	132 particles/m^2/d	(51)
	Asaluyeh county, Iran	Not reported	0.002-0.1 mm	72 items/m³	(12)
	Hamburg, Germany	PET, ethylvinyl acetate copolymers	<0.063->0.3 mm	136.5 -512 particles/m^2/d	(52)
	Pyrenees mountains, France	PS, PE, PP, PVC, PET	<0.025-2.6 mm	366 particles/m^2/d	(53)
	Dongguan, China	PE, PP, PS, cellulose	<0.2-4.2 mm	175-313 particles/m^2/d	(54)
	Yantai, China	PS, PE, PP, PVC, PET	0.005-1 mm	0-602 particles/m^2/d	(55)
	Paris, France	Not reported	0.005-0.6 mm	2-355 particles/m^2/d	(56)
	Bushehr port, Iran	PET, PE, nylon, PS, PP	<2.5 μm	5.2 items/m³	(57)
Dust particles
Indoor	Several countries	PET	<2 mm	38–120,000 μg/g	(58)
	Shanghai, China	PS, polyamide, PP	50−2000 μm	4.4 ×10³ MPs/m^2/d (mean)	(59)
	Surabaya, Indonesia		3000-3500 μm	212 particles (mean)	(60)
	Tiajin, China	PET	50 μm-2 mm	1550-120,000 mg/kg	(61)
	Tiajin, China	PC	50 μm-2 mm	4.6 mg/kg
Outdoor	Tiajin, China	PET	50 μm-2 mm	212-9020 mg/kg
Outdoor	Tiajin, China	PC	50 μm-2 mm	2 mg/kg
Drinking water
Packed water bottle	Bangkok, Thailand	PET, PE, PP, polyamide, PVC	≥50μm	140 MPs/L	(62)
Packed water bottle	Catania, Italy	PET	0.5 – 10 µm	657 ± 633 µg/L	(63)
Glass bottles	Erlangen, Germany	PE	>5 µm	6292 ± 10521 particles/L	(64)
Single use PET bottles				2649 ± 2857 particle/L
Reusable PETbottles				195047 ± 330810 pigmented particle/L
Reusable PET bottles				23594 ± 25518 pigmented particle/L
Bottled water	NewYork, USA	PP, nylon	>100 µm	0-14 MPs/L	(65)
Packed mineral water	Germany	PET, PE, PP, polyamide	50-500µm	28 -241 MPs/L	(66)
Mineral water	Germany	PET		1 (only one found) MPs/L	(67)
Drinking water fountain	Metro-station, Mexico city	poly-trimethylene terephthalate	0.1-5 mm	5 ± 2 to 91 ± 14 MPs/L	(68)
Tap water	Qingdao, China	PE, PS, PET, rayon, polyester, polyacrylic, polymethylpentene, polyimide	10 to 5000 µm	0.3 - 1.6 MPs/L	(69)
	North-western Germany	PS, PVC, polyamide, epoxy resin, PE	>20 μm	0-0.0007 MPs/L	(70)
	Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA	Synthetic polymers	0.1-5 mm	5.45 particles/L	(71)
	Czech Republic	PET, PP, PE	<10 μm	469.6 MPs/L (mean)	(72)
	Different parts of China	PE, PP, PET	3 to 4453 µm	0 - 1247 MPs/L	(73)
Diet
Sea salt	Bulgaria	PP	100-5000 μm	12 items/kg	(74)
Rock salt	Bulgaria	PP, PE	100-5000 μm	8 items/kg
Sea salt	China		45-4300 μm	550-680 items/kg
Rock salt				43-364 items/kg
Lake salt				7-204 items/kg
Sea salt	France	PS	160-980 μm	0-2 items/kg
Rock salt	Germany	PS	100 μm	2 items/kg
Rock salt	Hungary	Low density PE	100-4000 μm	12 items/kg
Sea salt	India		1000-5000 μm	(30-370 items/kg
Sea salt	Indonesia	PP		1400 items/kg
Sea salt	Italy		1000-5000 μm	4-30 items/g
Rock salt	Italy		1000-5000 μm	80 items/kg
Sea salt	Korea	PE	100-3000 μm	100-230 items/kg
Rock salt	Philippines		100-5000 μm	120 items/kg
Sea salt	Senegal		100-3000 μm	48 items/kg
Rock salt	Senegal		100-3000 μm	800 items/kg
Sea salt	Thailand		100-5000 μm	70-400 items/kg
Sea Salt	USA			50-800 items/kg
Rock salt	USA			113-367 items/kg
Sea salt	UK		100-2000 μm	140 items/kg
Sea salt	Vietnam		100-5000 μm	76-88 items/kg
Beer	Germany		Not specified	2-79 fibers/L	(75)
				12-109 fragments/L
				2-66 granules/L
	Duluth, Minnesota, USA		100-5000 µm	0-14.3 particles/L	(71)
Honey	Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Mexico		10-20 µm	166 ± 147 fibers/kg	(76)
Honey				9 ± 9 fragments/kg
Sugar				217 ± 123 fibers/kg
Sugar				32 ± 7 fragments/kg
Honey	Switzerland		500 µm	1760 – 8680/kg (black particles)	(77)
				132 – 728/kg (white fibers)
				60-172/kg (white particles)
				32-108/kg (coloured fibers)
Canned sardines and sprats	Australia and Malaysia		190-3800 µm	20 (mean) items/g	(78)
Seaweed nori	China		100-500 µm	0.9 - 3.0 items/g	(79)
Tea bags	Canada (billion microplastics and 3.1 billion nanoplastics single cup of the beverage)	fibers	25 µm	11.6 items/g	(80)
Oyster, bivalves and mussels (Seafood)
Location	Species name	Tissue	Size	Concentration	Reference
California, USA	Crassostrea gigas	Soft tissue	>500 µm	0.6 particles/g	(81)
Brittany, France	Crassostrea gigas		5-25 µm	0.47 particles/g	(82)
Shanghai, China	Meretrix lusoria		5-5000 µm	9.22 paticles/individual	(83)
	Mytilus galloprovincialis		5-5000 µm	4.33 ± 2.62 particles/individual
	Patinopecten yessoensis		5-5000 µm	57.2 ± 17.3 particles/individual
Italy	Mytilus galloprovincialis	Hepatopancreas and gills	760-6000 µm	6.2-7.2 particles/g	(84)
Scottish coast	Mytilus spp.	Soft tissue	200->2000 µm	3.2 ± 0.52 paticles/individual	(49)
Scottish coast	Modiolus modiolus	Soft tissue	200->2000 µm	3.5 ± 1.29 paticles/individual	(49)
Musa estuary, Persian Gulf	Penaeus semisulcatus	Muscle, skin	<100->1000 µm	7.8 particles/individual	(85)
Persian Gulf, Iran	Pinctala radiata	Soft tissue	10-5000 µm	11 particles/individual	(86)
East China Sea	Mytilus spp.		1000-5000 µm	3.69 ± 9.16 items/g	(87)
UK coast	Mytilus edulis		500 µm	0.7 to 2.9 items/g	(88)
UK coast	Mytilus edulis		500 µm	1.1 to 6.4 items/individual	(88)
South Korea	Crassostrea gigas, Mytilus edulis, Tapes philippinarum, Patinopecten yessoensis		300 µm	Mean: 0.15 ± 0.20 n/g species and 0.97 ± 0.74 n/individual	(89)
Belgium coast	Mytilus edulis		200-1500 µm	2.6 to 5.1 fibers/10 g	(90)
Fuzhou, China	Bivalve		320-1600 µm	0.11-0.12 items/g and 0.59-1.44 items/individual	(91)
Xiamen, China	Bivalve		100-4000 µm	0.28-0.30 items/g and 1.26-1.56 items/individual	(91)
Fishes
Saudi Arabian Red sea coast	Acanthurus gahhm	Gastrointestinal tract	2700 µm	10 per g (mean)	(92)
	Epinephelus areolatus		1800 µm	10 per individual (mean)
	Epinephelus chlorostigma		1900 µm	3 per individual (mean)
Northeast Persian Gulf	Alepes djedaba	muscle	<100-5000 µm	20 per individual (mean)	(93)
Musa estuary, Persian Gulf	Cynoglossus abbreviatus	Muscle, gut, gills, liver, skin	<100->1000 µm	11 per individual (mean)	(85)
Mondego estuary, Portugal	Dicentrarchus labrax	Gastrointestinal tract	≤1000-5000 µm	40 per individual (mean)	(94)
Mondego estuary, Portugal	Diplodus vulgaris	Gastrointestinal tract	≤1000-5000 µm	40 per individual (mean)	(94)
Mediterranean Sea, Spain	Engraulis encrasicolus	Liver	124-438 µm	10 per individual (mean)	(95)
Mediterranean Sea, Spain		Gastrointestinal tract	Not specified	105 per individual (mean)	(96)
Tokyo Bay, Japan	Engraulis japonicus	Gastrointestinal tract	10-500 µm	64 per individual (mean)	(97)
Goiana estuary, Brazil	Cynoscion acoupa	Gut	5000 µm	552 per individual (mean)	(98)
Spanish Atlantic	Merluccius merluccius	Stomach	380-3100 µm	12 per individual	(99)
Indian coast	Sardinella longiceps	Gut	500-3000 µm	10 per individual	(100)
East China Sea	Wild fish species	Gill	24-268 µm	0.77 ± 1.25 items/individual	(101)
East China Sea	Crustacean spp.	Gastrointestinal	32-4092 µm	0.52 ± 0.90 items/individual	(101)
South China Sea	Deep sea fishes (13 species)	Stomach and intestine	40 – 200 µm	1.96 ± 1.12 items/individual and 1.77 ± 0.73 items/individual	(102)
Fuzhou, China	Wild fishes	Gastrointestinal	440-11000 µm	0.60-0.65 items/g and 1.69-2.29 items/individual	(91)
Xiamen, China	Wild fishes	Gastrointestinal	450-7200 µm	0.49-1.26 items/g and 2.39-4.71 items/individual	(90)
Southern Caspian Sea	Rutilus frisii kutum	Stomach	<500 µm	11.4 itmes/fish	(103)
Northern Ionian Sea, Greece	Mytilus galloprovincialis, Sardina pilchardus, Pagellus erythrinus, Mullus barbatus	Gills, stomach, intestines	0.5-0.1 mm	1.7–2 items/individual and 1.5–1.9 items/individual	(104)
Bay of Bengal, India	Marine fish (10 species)	Gastrointestinal	<500 µm	2.2 ± 0.89 items/individual	(105)
Southern Caspian Sea	Chelon Aurata, Rutilus kutum	Gut	1.94 mm (mean)	2.29 MPs/fish	(106)
Human specimens
Sample type	Location	Polymer type	Size	Concentration	Reference
Human placenta	Rome, Italy	PP and others	5-10 µm	12 fragments in 4 placentas	(46)
Human feces	Vienna, Austria	PP, PET	50 to 500 μm	20 MPs per 10 g of stool	(107)


Lung tissue	Sao Paulo, Brazil	PP, PE, PVC, cellulose acetate, polyamide, PS, PU	<5.5 μm particles and 8.1-16.8 μm fibers	Mean: 0.59 MP/g (470 particles per lung)	(108)
Pet feces	Albany, New York, USA	PET	<2.4 mm	Cat: <2,300-340,000 ng/g dw	(48)
		PET	<2.4 mm	Dog: 7,700-190,000 ng/g dw
		PC	<2.4 mm	Cat: <32 to 13,000 ng/g dw
		PC	<2.4 mm	Dog: <32-26,000 ng/g dw

PE, polyethylene; PET, polyethylene terephthalate; PC, polycarbonate; PP, polypropylene; PU, polyurethane; PTFE, polytetrafluroethylene; PS, polystyrene; PVC, polyvinylchloride.