Microplastic—an emerging contaminant of potential concern?

Browne, Mark A. Oakley; Galloway, Tamara S.; Thompson, Richard C.

doi:10.1002/ieam.5630030412

Cited by 706 publications

(257 citation statements)

References 11 publications

(14 reference statements)

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“…Sequestration and loss could have occurred via wind removal, burial in sediments and near shore vegetation, as well as via ingestion by organisms as they travelled downstream (Gregory 1996;Browne et al 2007;Fendall and Sewell 2009;Cole et al 2011;Mathalon and Hill 2014). However, if concentrations decreased as we moved downstream due to only loss, we would have expected to observe a further decrease in concentrations at the downstream site.…”

Section: Microplastics In Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These plastics may be removed during primary phase separation treatment as well as lost to settling in aeration pond sediments during secondary treatment (Carr et al 2016;Murphy et al 2016); however, microplastics may pass through the treatment system and be released in treated effluent (Gregory 1996;Browne et al 2007;Fendall and Sewell 2009). Small numbers per litre released in effluent can translate to large numbers of plastics in aquatic systems, considering the large volumes of treated effluent released from WWTPs worldwide.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Primary microplastics largely consist of microbeads (tiny round plastics mainly used as abrasive scrubs) and are commonly found in hygiene, sandblasting, and medical products (Zitko and Hanlon 1991;Patel et al 2009;Browne et al 2011;Rochman et al 2015). Secondary microplastics vary in form and origin, and often result from the breakdown of macroplastics through ultraviolet, microbial, and physical degradation (Browne et al 2007;Rios et al 2007;Moore 2008;Shah et al 2008;Barnes et al 2009;Ryan et al 2009;Andrady 2011). Further categorization includes grouping based on shape as beads, fibers, and fragments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastics in the gastrointestinal tracts of fish and the water from an urban prairie creek

Campbell

Williamson

Hall

2017

FACETS

169

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Microplastics are defined as any plastic with a diameter ≤5 mm. Problems associated with these plastics such as contamination of both marine and freshwater environments and ingestion by aquatic organisms are of increasing concern. Our study quantifies the number of microplastics in a prairie creek immediately downstream of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Water samples and five species of fish were collected from sample sites upstream and downstream of a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in the summers of 2015 and 2016. Samples were digested in either a Fe(II)/H 2 O 2 or NaClO solution and observed under a microscope where plastics present were enumerated by colour and type. At least one microplastic was detected in 73.5% of fish and 95.6% of water samples, showing that the creek does, in fact, contain microplastics. Concentrations were higher in water from upstream sites, likely due to dilution of creek water by the release of treated effluent. The results of this study provide baseline conditions for the presence of plastics in the creek prior to a major upgrade of the WWTP scheduled for completion in 2016.

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Section: Microplastics In Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Microplastics in the gastrointestinal tracts of fish and the water from an urban prairie creek

Campbell

Williamson

Hall

2017

FACETS

169

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“…Primary microplastics are referred to as microparticles produced as such, i.e. plastic pellets, exfoliating cosmetics or synthetic clothing fibres (Chang, 2015;Napper et al, 2015;Mato et al, 2001;van Wezel et al, 2015), while secondary microplastics derive from the breakdown of larger plastic debris (Browne et al, 2007;Cole et al, 2011;Shah et al, 2008;Thompson, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics in seafood: Benchmark protocol for their extraction and characterization

Dehaut

Cassone

Frère

et al. 2016

Environmental Pollution

719

352

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Pollution of the oceans by microplastics (<5 mm) represents a major environmental problem. To date, a limited number of studies have investigated the level of contamination of marine organisms collected in situ. For extraction and characterization of microplastics in biological samples, the crucial step is the identification of solvent(s) or chemical(s) that efficiently dissolve organic matter without degrading plastic polymers for their identification in a time and cost effective way. Most published papers, as well as OSPAR recommendations for the development of a common monitoring protocol for plastic particles in fish and shellfish at the European level, use protocols containing nitric acid to digest the biological tissues, despite reports of polyamide degradation with this chemical. In the present study, six existing approaches were tested and their effects were compared on up to 15 different plastic polymers, as well as their efficiency in digesting biological matrices. Plastic integrity was evaluated through microscopic inspection, weighing, pyrolysis coupled with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, and Raman spectrometry before and after digestion. Tissues from mussels, crabs and fish were digested before being filtered on glass fibre filters. Digestion efficiency was evaluated through microscopical inspection of the filters and determination of the relative removal of organic matter content after digestion. Five out of the six tested protocols led to significant degradation of plastic particles and/or insufficient tissue digestion. The protocol using a KOH 10% solution and incubation at 60 °C during a 24 h period led to an efficient digestion of biological tissues with no significant degradation on all tested polymers, except for cellulose acetate. This protocol appeared to be the best compromise for extraction and later identification of microplastics in biological samples and should be implemented in further monitoring studies to ensure relevance and comparison of environmental and seafood product quality studies.

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“…Those fragments persist due to the extremely slow degradation processes and the stability of plastic, which has been estimated in the range of hundreds of years (Barnes et al 2009). Thereby at some locations more than 80% of intertidal contamination is microplastic (Browne et al 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A novel, highly efficient method for the separation and quantification of plastic particles in sediments of aquatic environments

Imhof

Schmid

Nießner

et al. 2012

Limnology & Ocean Methods

543

349

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Although plastic debris is constantly accumulating in aquatic environments, the impact on aquatic ecosystems is not yet fully understood. A first important step to assess the consequences of plastic debris in aquatic ecosystems is the establishment of a reliable, verified, and standardized method to quantify the amount of plastic particles in the environment. We improved the density separation approach by the construction of the so called Munich Plastic Sediment Separator (MPSS). It enables a reliable separation of different ecologically relevant size classes of plastic particles from sediment samples. A ZnCl 2 -solution (1.6-1.7 kg/L) as separation fluid allows for an extraction of plastic particles ranging from large fragments to small microplastic particles (S-MPP, <1 mm). Subsequent identification and quantification of the particles with spatial resolution down to 1 µm can be performed using Raman microspectroscopy. Our study is the first providing validated recovery rates of 100% for large microplastic particles (L-MPP, 1-5 mm) and 95.5% for S-MPP. The recovery rate for S-MPP, using the MPSS, was significantly higher than the value obtained by application of classical density separation setup (39.8%). Moreover, our recovery rates were significantly higher than those based on froth flotation (55.0% for L-MPP) commonly used in recycling industries. Hence, our improved method can be used for a reliable and time-efficient separation, identification and quantification of plastic fragments down to S-MPP. This will help foster studies quantifying the increasing contamination of aquatic environments with microplastic particles, which is a crucial prerequisite for future risk assessment and management strategies.

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Microplastic—an emerging contaminant of potential concern?

Cited by 706 publications

References 11 publications

Microplastics in the gastrointestinal tracts of fish and the water from an urban prairie creek

Microplastics in the gastrointestinal tracts of fish and the water from an urban prairie creek

Microplastics in seafood: Benchmark protocol for their extraction and characterization

A novel, highly efficient method for the separation and quantification of plastic particles in sediments of aquatic environments

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