Madeline E. Clough, Eduardo Ochoa Rivera, Abbygail M Ayala, Rebecca L. Parham, Joseph L. Pennacchio, Henry Thurber, Andrew P. Ault, Ambuj Tewari, Anne J. McNeil
) to reduce contamination. For existing contaminated infrared and Raman spectral datasets, we outline workflows that differentiate between microplastics and stearate contamination from gloves. Applying these workflows to a case study of glove-contaminated environmental data, we illustrate that the proposed solutions reduce MP false positives at the smallest size ranges (<10 µm). By using this approach in conjunction with our included spectral libraries of stearate standards, researchers can address glove-based contamination in environmental datasets and provide more accurate estimates of environmental microplastic abundance.