<strong>Microplastic Presence in Sediment and Water of a Lagoon Bordering the Urban Agglomeration of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria</strong>

Abstract

Microplastics are a fast emerging group of contaminants. Their worldwide occurrence in water, sediment, and aquatic fauna raises questions and concerns as to their probable effects on aquatic life and ecology. This study investigates for the first time presence, abundance, and types of microplastics in water and sediment from a lagoon bordering the large urban agglomeration of Lagos in Nigeria, and renders additional information about grain size and sediment composition. Water and sediment samples were collected from four locations in the Lagos lagoon and a tributary. The abundance and distribution of microplastics in four range classes were determined for the sampled locations. Plastic particles were counted using digital microscopy, and identified with FTIR and pyrolysis GC-MS. The abundance of microplastics ranged from 310-2319 microplastic particles/kg in sediment, and 139-303 particles/m3 in water. The large discrepancy in the sediments can be explained by sediment characteristics as more microplastics were detected in the fine-grained sediments of Makoko. Fibres were the predominant shape found in all samples followed by fragments and few films whereas spheres were missing. Fibres were more abundant in water (92.6 %) than in sediments (32.5 %) while more fragments and foils occurred in sediments. The most commonly used polymers polypropylene and polyethylene were also the most detected ones in both matrices. Compared to other studies in Nigeria, our findings especially in the coarser sediments were lower while the fine-grained site revealed similar results.

Public Health Knowledge and Perception of Microplastics Pollution: Lessons from the Lagos Lagoon

“…Microplastics are ubiquitous and their potential harm to human health and the environment has received increasing attention from the public and scienti c community (Deng et al, 2020, Olarinmoye et al, 2020. With unabated proliferation of plastic waste in the environment, public awareness and public understanding of how microplastics could evolve and how they are impacting the environment especially the Lagos Lagoon which is an hotspot for diverse seafood cannot be overemphasized.…”

“…However, it was evident the people in this area generally have relatively poor knowledge of microplastics inspite of the fact that majority were informed that issues of microplastic pollution is a serious global problem. A recent study not only detected microplastics (mostly polypropylene and polyethylene) in the Lagos lagoon but also underscore the necessity of precisely evaluating the exact concentrations of these microplastics in the environment in a bid to evaluate the impact in the food chain and consequently human health effects (Olarinmoye et al 2020). As majority reveals that 57.8% are aware of microplastic pollution of which the majority were students (40.7%), age brackets 18-25 years (57.6%), male (67.8%), single (71.2%) and B.Sc/HND holders (35.6%).…”

The Potential Role of Membrane Technology in the Removal of Microplastics from Wastewater

“…Anthropogenic activities are a pointer to plastic degradation resulting in the abundance and distribution of microplastics in aquatic environment [4]. Unfortunately, lack of proper management of plastic wastes has led to an increase in its presence in the environment [5,6] resulting in bioaccumulation. When ingested by humans and aquatic organisms, microplastics can cause the obstruction of digestive tract, and bioaccumulate in the bodies with some health Adewale Adewuyi et al consequences [7,8].…”