Public perception of microplastics on a popular Chinese social media platform

Abstract

Massive but mismanaged plastics have caused global microplastic (MP) problems, forcing the world to reduce and control pollutant emissions from production and consumption. Successful environmental behavior relies heavily on public support. However, the lack of understanding of public awareness towards MPs hinders the creation of specific environmental action plans. This study selected the most popular Chinese social media platform (WeChat), collected six years of online dissemination data (2015–2020), and comprehensively analyzed public attention, attitudes, and opinions regarding MPs. Consecutive online propagation attracted approximately 250.42 × 104 readings from MP posts (WeChat articles). Text mining methods (e.g., content analysis and generalized linear models) showed that MP-related information was widely propagated through diverse social groups, especially traditional media publishers (i.e., newspapers and television), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and developed coastal regions. The public has paid more attention to MP pollution in marine environments and human health-related issues (e.g., food and drinking water). Additionally, knowledge of everyday life-sourced MPs (e.g., microbeads from personal care products) has increased. Increased environmental awareness evokes greater public willingness to reduce plastic usage. To deepen environmental education, more efforts are needed to include more impactive publishers living around important ecological zones (e.g., upstream of larger rivers and Mount Everest), and regions with high consumption of plastic products (e.g., the agricultural areas with excessive use of mulch) to propagate knowledge, and information on risk, source, and pollution control of MPs on social media platforms.