Based on the current state of the knowledge related to microplastics in WWTPs, the following

aspects should be addressed in the future research for better understanding and mitigating
microplastics:

(1) Since the microplastics sampling and detection methods can significantly affect the result
of its quantification and identification, it is urgent to come to harmonization. The method
might focus on the major plastics observed in wastewater or try to consider 806 all
plastics.

(2) Current studies related to microplastics in WWTPs mainly investigated the microplastics
> 20μm. However, reports indicate that smaller microplastics have a high abundance in
water environment and may have more severe biotoxicity as they could enter into the
circulatory system of aquatic species. Therefore, it is worthwhile to include tiny
microplastics (<20μm) in future studies. Raman spectroscopy and thermoanalytical
techniques might be options for analyzing these tiny microplastics, which require further
exploration.

(3) As most microplastics end up in sewage sludge, future study should be carried out to
investigate the potentially environmental impact of land application of sewage sludge. (4)
Microplastics-targeted treatment processes need to be developed for reducing amount of
microplastic discharged from WWTPs and released from sewage sludge. (5) Source
control can provide an alternative solution for preventing microplastics pollution. Future
efforts could be devoted to separate microplastics from wastewater at the household
scales as well as improve plastic regulation