The Hidden Microplastics: New Insights and Figures from the Thorough Separation and Characterization of Microplastics and of Their Degradation Byproducts in Coastal Sediments

The environmental pollution by plastic debris directly dispersed in or eventually reaching marine habitats is raising increasing concern not only for the vulnerability of marine species to ingestion and entanglement by macroscopic debris, but also for the potential hazards from smaller fragments down to a few micrometer size, often referred to as “microplastics”. A novel procedure for the selective quantitative and qualitative determination of organic solvent soluble microplastics and microplastics degradation products (