The aim of this chapter is to investigate the environmental effect of plastics (macroplastic and microplastic) during the Anthropocene and the Great Acceleration. Plastic production has worldwide increased since 1950. For instance, many Tunisian regions such as Bizerte, Kerkennah, and Gabes witness a proliferation of plastic and microplastic. The manifestation of the plastic invasion is obviously dispersed within continental and marine environments. The detection of microplastic needs an extraction protocol and the use of the infrared spectroscopy. Added to their esthetic pollution, effect of plastics on environment and human health remains controversial. On the other hand, microplastic fragments obtained after the partial destruction of plastic represent more serious dangers. These fragments are integrated within the pedosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. They may be eaten by animals, including humans. Plastics are also good and safe niches for pathogenic viruses. They are considered as motivators of the Anthropocene virology.
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Small quantities of plastic could be accepted since they may be recycled (Joseph et al., 2021). But big quantities represent a real threat since they are defragmented to microplastic, which are in terns fragmented to nanoplastic (Kwak & An, 2021). In doing so, the plastic pollution becomes dispersed and lost within the atmosphere, hydrosphere, pedosphere and biosphere. To investigate the environmental pollution of plastic, methods of extraction and detection as well as the remedial solutions are of great importance (Patil et al., 2022). The Anthropocene and Great Acceleration are marked by environmental changes recorded within the atmosphere (Albertsen et al., 2021; Lee & Lee, 2021), hydrosphere (Ahlström et al., 2020), bedosphere (Rossiter, 2021) and biosphere (Folke, 2021; Brauch, 2021). Great Acceleration may be identified as the set of human-driven major social, environmental and technological modifications taking place since 1950 (Shoshitaishvili, 2021). This transition is mainly driven by increasing energy consumption (Essefi, 2021a) leading to the setting of a new Anthropocene geochemistry and mineralogy (Essefi, 2020, 2021b) representing a serious threat of an apocalyptic scenario (Essefi, 2021c). As a geological layer, plastic becomes a “vibrant” memory of the nexus between capitalism and humanism, revealing its full political potential. Then, it enters a symbiotic relationship with all biotic and abiotic bodies, becoming endo-plastic. Plastic is a witness, by-product and determinant of the Anthropocene (Clinci, 2021). In terms of origin, plastic is a by-product of the main source of energy: the petrol. As a matter of fact, petroleum derivatives feed with many kinds of plastic (Palos et al., 2021). This may give an explanation of the parallel evolution of the Anthropocene setting and energy consumption (Essefi, 2021a). The environmental issue of plastic pollution is more severe than fragments of plastics damaging the esthetic side of a region. Instead, these big fragments are candidate to form smaller particles of less than 5 mm: microplastic. These products have been progressively integrated within terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Stubbins et al., 2021). Recent studies (Gkoutselis et al., 2021; Mincer, 2021) argued that plastic enhanced the pathogenic effect of some viruses including COVID-19; it is the Anthropocene virology. This chapter aims to investigate the detection of the environmental pollution by plastic and microplastic and their effect on human health. In this work, we dealt on a concrete example from Tunisia: the Gulf of Gabes.