Microplastic pollution on Caribbean beaches in the Lesser Antilles

Bosker, Thijs; Guaita, Lucia; Behrens, Paul

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2018.05.060

Cited by 91 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…In most studies, no differentiation is made between particle and fiber concentrations ( Table 1). The high fiber proportion in the present study corroborated the global trend to a predominance of fibers as observed on beaches in Belgium (Claessens et al 2011;Van Cauwenberghe et al 2013a), France (Bosker et al 2018), Germany Published in Environ. Sci.…”

Section: Possible Origins Of Particles and Fibers On The Côte D'opalesupporting

confidence: 89%

Occurrence and identification of microplastics in beach sediments from the Hauts-de-France region

Doyen

Hermabessière²,

Dehaut³

et al. 2019

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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The present work was carried out to quantify microplastics (MP) from three sandy beaches along the Côte d'Opale coastline located in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. Three different study sites located along the English Channel were investigated due to different levels of anthropopression and hydrodynamic conditions. Sediments were collected at three different tide lines: high tide line (HTL), middle of the intertidal zone (IZ), and low tide line (LTL) to investigate the effects of tide line on microplastic contamination. Particles and fibers were counted and colors were recorded; polymer identification was then performed using pyrolysisgas chromatography-mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). Particles and fibers abundance ranged from 23.4 ± 18.9 to 69.3 ± 30.6 items kg-1 dry weight sediment, with a trend towards fiber predominance, were observed. No difference in particles and fibers abundance was found between the different beaches and tide lines, except for Boulogne-sur-Mer, where the particle number was significantly different between tide lines. Major polymers identified were polyethylene (36.6 %) and polypropylene (10.7 %). This citizen science project provided preliminary data about the abundance and polymeric nature of MP along the Côte d'Opale coastline.

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Section: Possible Origins Of Particles and Fibers On The Côte D'opalesupporting

confidence: 89%

Occurrence and identification of microplastics in beach sediments from the Hauts-de-France region

Doyen

Hermabessière²,

Dehaut³

et al. 2019

Environ Sci Pollut Res

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“…Intricate studies have looked at the impact of microplastics on different organisms, both in their natural habitat and in laboratory settings. There is some trepidation about the impact of microplastics on biodiversity, which has been expressed in recent papers [63] [64] [65]. Thus, it has been shown that larger invertebrate species ingest microplastics, mistaking them for their natural prey because of similarities in shape, size and color, e.g., mistaking them for plankton [66]- [73].…”

Section: Composition Of Microplastics Their Distribution In the Envimentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics and Wastewater Treatment Plants—A Review

Habib¹,

Thiemann²,

Kendi³

2020

JWARP

116

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The emission of microplastics into nature poses a threat to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Their penetration of the food chain presents a danger to human health as well. Wastewater treatment plants can be seen as the last barrier between microplastics and the environment. This review focuses on the impact of waste treatment plants in retaining microplastics. Studies show that no wastewater treatment method leads to a complete retention of microplastics, and so wastewater treatment plants themselves are viewed as point sources for the discharge of microplastics into the aquatic environment. Problems associated with the utilization of microplastic loaded sewage sludge are also discussed in the review. Journal of Water Resource and Protection found as micropellets in cosmetic formulations and in facial cleaners and body scrubs (median size of 0.2 -0.4 mm), as microspherules in toothpastes (2 -5 μm in size), as well as in scrubbers used for air-blasting surfaces to remove paints and rust [25] and as drilling fluids in oil and gas exploration. A newer application is their use in drug delivery systems [26] [27]. In addition, synthetic polymer containing microparticles can also be released by the degradation of materials. The release of microfibers as a result of the washing of textiles has been widely reported as a source of microplastics [28] [29] [30] [31] [32]. These synthetic fibers, released by washing machines, are transported to waste water treatment plants [29] [33], where a considerable amount of them pass through the different treatment stages into the effluents due to their smaller size and enter the aquatic environment. It is estimated that around 35% of microplastics reaching the ocean are from synthetic textiles [34].Inventories of microplastics entering the environment have been attempted by organizations in different countries. A breakdown of the sources of microplastics in Sweden has been provided by Magnusson [35], which is given in detail below as an example of typical microplastic streams in developed countries. There is microplastic emission from plastic production, sandblasting material, cosmetic products, pharmaceutical drugs, textiles, road material and coatings. Using a spill factor of 0.04%, which was also used by Sundt et al. [26] for the estimation of pellet loss from the Norwegian plastic production plants, K. Magnusson et al. [35] have calculated a direct micropellet emission of 298 tons per year. In addition to that, there is loss due to the handling of plastic pellets which is set at between 0.0005% and 0.01%, adding another 12 -235 tons of microplastics emitted into the environment. These numbers were modeled on emission factors proposed by Lassen et al. [36] for the Danish production industry. However, no actual measured numbers of emissions of microplastics during production exist.The use of microplastics (e.g. of urea formaldehyde resins) in abrasive products for sandblasting has been deemed to be limited, and the use of these materials in Swedish shipyards is strictly regulated...

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“…[45]. The study conducted on Caribbean beaches at Lesser Antilles by Bosker et al (2018) showed a concentration at the range of 261 kg dry weigh (d.w) [46]. Similar to these studies, approximately, 5.25 trillion particles weighing 268940 tons float in the world's oceans surface [47].…”

Section: Beaches Coastlines and Shorelinesmentioning

confidence: 82%

“…Piperagkas et al (2019) have explained this distribution by the environment factors as well as the winds, influencing their own properties (shapes, size, colors, etc.) [45]. The study conducted on Caribbean beaches at Lesser Antilles by Bosker et al (2018) showed a concentration at the range of 261 kg dry weigh (d.w) [46].…”

Section: Beaches Coastlines and Shorelinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Microplastics as an emerging hazard to terrestrial and marine ecosystems: Sources, Occurrence and Analytical Methods

Chouchene¹,

Ksibi

2021

E3S Web Conf.

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Microplastics (MPs) with particles lower than 5mm in size, are crucial pollution of increasing ecotoxicological concern in the environments. Lately, studies on MPs have been documented globally due to increasing awareness of the potential risks for human health and for the environment. However due to limitations of different analytical methods and environmental assessment risk, MPs distribution and biological effects are still database topics. To clarify this gap, this study brings out a wide range of scientific literature related to MPs studies in different environmental compartments as well as sediments, oceans, coastlines, uptake and the health effect. The environmental and health risk related to microplastic contamination is still unclear.

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Microplastic pollution on Caribbean beaches in the Lesser Antilles

Cited by 91 publications

References 51 publications

Occurrence and identification of microplastics in beach sediments from the Hauts-de-France region

Occurrence and identification of microplastics in beach sediments from the Hauts-de-France region

Microplastics and Wastewater Treatment Plants—A Review

Microplastics as an emerging hazard to terrestrial and marine ecosystems: Sources, Occurrence and Analytical Methods

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