Introduction
This lesson introduces learners to the emerging challenge of airborne microplastics and nanoplastics—an often-overlooked dimension of plastic pollution.
Students will explore how microscopic plastic particles are generated through industrial processes, synthetic textiles, tire wear, and environmental weathering, and how they become suspended in the atmosphere.
The lesson highlights the pathways through which these particles travel long distances, deposit in remote ecosystems, and contribute to the contamination of land, water, and food.
Through engaging examples and scientific insights, learners will examine how airborne plastics enter the human body via inhalation, ingestion, and potentially through the skin, posing risks to respiratory, immune, reproductive, and neurological health.
Emphasis is placed on detection challenges, environmental feedback loops, and the urgent need for policy action and international standards.
By the end of this lesson, students will be able to trace the lifecycle of airborne plastics, assess their impacts, and evaluate innovative monitoring and mitigation strategies.
Through discussion, investigation, and critical reflection, this lesson empowers learners to recognize the invisible risks of plastic pollution and contribute to air quality protection and sustainable change.
Lesson Learning Outcomes
After completion of this lesson, learners will be able to:
Identify the primary sources of airborne micro- and nanoplastics (AMNPs), including urban, industrial, and secondary environmental origins.
- Learners will explore how tire wear, synthetic textiles, construction debris, and plastic weathering contribute to airborne plastic pollution.
Understand the atmospheric transport mechanisms of micro(nano)plastics and their capacity for long-range environmental dispersion.
- Students will learn how uplift, wind, turbulence, and precipitation facilitate the spread of plastic particles to remote ecosystems like the Arctic and alpine regions.
Differentiate between dry and wet deposition processes and their roles in redistributing airborne plastics into land and aquatic systems.
- Learners will examine how microplastics settle via gravity or precipitation and how this leads to secondary contamination.
Analyze the analytical challenges in detecting AMNPs and evaluate innovations in sampling, identification, and AI-assisted data processing.
- Through examples of spectroscopy, microscopy, and portable sensors, students will assess both technical limitations and emerging solutions.
Describe the main human exposure pathways to airborne plastics, including inhalation, ingestion via deposition, and potential dermal contact.
- Learners will reflect on how everyday activities—such as drying clothes or cooking—can increase indoor exposure risks.
Evaluate the health risks associated with AMNPs, including respiratory, endocrine, neurological, and immune system effects.
- Using recent research, students will understand how microplastics penetrate the lungs, cross biological barriers, and interact with human cells and tissues.
Examine the environmental fate and feedback loops of AMNPs across air, land, water, and biota.
- Students will explore the interconnected cycling of plastics, from urban environments to cryospheric systems and aquatic ecosystems.
Investigate the implications of atmospheric plastic pollution on ecosystems, climate processes, and biogeochemical cycles.
- Learners will assess impacts on biodiversity, microbial communities, nutrient flows, and potential climate-related feedbacks.
Critically assess gaps in current policy and regulation regarding airborne microplastics at national and international levels.
- Students will identify challenges such as lack of monitoring standards, weak integration with health policy, and the absence of AMNPs in air quality legislation.
Propose policy recommendations, public awareness strategies, or research initiatives to mitigate airborne plastic pollution.
- Through collaborative projects, learners will develop targeted solutions to monitor, reduce, or regulate micro(nano)plastic emissions from air pathways.
