Microplastics are the newly emerged contaminants with a presence in almost every part of the globe. Despite being small in size, microplastic particles have proved to be harmful for plants, animals, humans, and for the ecosystem in general. Water is one of the most important routes through which microplastics transfer from one place to another. Moreover, water is also an important route for the ingestion of microplastics in human, which results in various health issues, such as cancer, mutagenic and teratogenic abnormalities. Thus, microplastics in water is an emerging public health issue which needs attention and, hence, it is important to investigate removal techniques for microplastics in wastewater. Although, there are some biological, chemical/electrochemical, and physical techniques to remove microplastics, their wide scale applicability and cost–effectiveness is an issue. In this review, we have discussed the existing and upcoming treatment technologies for the removal of microplastics from wastewater and also tried to present an overview for the future approaches.

Waste segregation at source, particularly at the household level, is an integral component of sustainable solid waste management, which is a critical public health issue. Although multiple interventions have been published, often with contradictory findings, few authors have conducted a comprehensive systematic synthesis of the published literature. Therefore, we undertook a systematic review to synthesize all published interventions conducted in any country in the world which targeted household-level waste segregation with or without additional focus on recycling or composting.

Microplastics are one of the emerging contaminants that have received attention in recent decades due to their adverse effects on human health and the environment. Though microplastics are primarily found in abundance in oceans, freshwater sources and drinking water are not unaffected. Nevertheless, it is not only the microplastics that are harmful; rather their ability to transport contaminants is another serious issue of concern. The contaminant transport ability is affected by various environmental and physico-chemical parameters of microplastics. Lack of effective and targeted water treatment technologies have led intake of microplastics by humans resulting in a variety of health issues. Even though a few regulatory attempts have been made in the direction of curtailing the production and use of microplastics, there is still a long way to go. This paper focuses on various aspects of microplastics’ presence in drinking water, focusing on their contaminant transport ability, human health risks, removal technologies, and the global scenario of concern.

Increase in the antibiotic's usage and mis-management in antibiotics' disposal has led to the occurrence of antibiotic residues in the surface water bodies. These residues may pose considerable risks to the human as well as aquatic organisms owing to the enhancement in antimicrobial resistance among microbes. Hence, precautionary measures are need of the hour to curtail the occurrence of antibiotic compounds in water. In addition, rampant burning of agricultural waste in India causes considerable air pollution. Considering this, a novel adsorbent has been developed from agricultural waste biomass, viz. wheat straw (WS), through calcination (CWS), followed by chemical activation (AWS). These adsorbents were employed for the removal of ciprofloxacin (CIP) from water. Removal efficiency of 90% (for CWS) and 98% (for AWS) could be achieved at neutral pH in room temperature conditions. The maximum adsorption capacity of ciprofloxacin on synthesized adsorbent was evaluated as 14.51 mg g^-1. Experimental findings were further explored to get the insights of isotherm, kinetics, and thermodynamics involved in the process. It was found that Langmuir model (with R² value of 0.985) provided a better fit than the other isotherm models. Kinetics and thermodynamic studies revealed that adsorption process followed the pseudo second order linear kinetic model (with R² value of 0.999) with endothermic and spontaneous sorption of ciprofloxacin on developed adsorbent. Thus, wheat straw waste may suitably be used as adsorbent for the removal of antibiotics from water.