scispace - formally typeset
Open AccessJournal ArticleDOI

A large-scale investigation of microplastic contamination: Abundance and characteristics of microplastics in European beach sediment.

Reads0
Chats0
TLDR
This research is the first large spatial-scale analysis of microplastics on European beaches giving insights into the nature and extent of the microplastic challenge.
About
This article is published in Marine Pollution Bulletin.The article was published on 2017-10-15 and is currently open access. It has received 274 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Microplastics.

read more

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Evidence of microplastic accumulation in agricultural soils from sewage sludge disposal

TL;DR: The results indicate that microplastic counts increase over time where successive sludge applications are performed, and stress the relevance of sludge as a driver of soil microplastics contamination.
Journal ArticleDOI

Identification of microplastics using Raman spectroscopy: Latest developments and future prospects.

TL;DR: A showcase of interesting and easily available solutions that contribute to faster and better identification of microplastics using Raman spectroscopy and non-conventional Raman techniques (non-linear Raman, hyperspectral imaging, standoff Raman) which permit more advanced applications such as real-time Raman detection and imaging of micro Plastics.
Journal ArticleDOI

Distribution of plastic polymer types in the marine environment; A meta-analysis.

TL;DR: The meta-analysis demonstrates that some of the most abundant and recalcitrant manufactured plastics are more persistent in the sea surface than previously anticipated and that further research is required to determine the ultimate fate of these polymers as current knowledge does not support the deep sea as the final sink for all polymer types.
Journal ArticleDOI

Microplastics pollution in different aquatic environments and biota: A review of recent studies

TL;DR: This work comprehensively reviewed the occurrence and distribution of MPs pollution in both marine and freshwater environments, including rivers, lakes and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), and proposed the development of new techniques for sampling MPs in aquatic environments and biota.
References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI

Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean

TL;DR: This work combines available data on solid waste with a model that uses population density and economic status to estimate the amount of land-based plastic waste entering the ocean, which is estimated to be 275 million metric tons.
Journal ArticleDOI

Microplastics in the marine environment

TL;DR: The mechanisms of generation and potential impacts of microplastics in the ocean environment are discussed, and the increasing levels of plastic pollution of the oceans are understood, it is important to better understand the impact of microPlastic in the Ocean food web.
Journal ArticleDOI

Lost at sea: where is all the plastic?

TL;DR: It is shown that microscopic plastic fragments and fibers are also widespread in the marine environment and may persist for centuries.
Journal ArticleDOI

Accumulation and fragmentation of plastic debris in global environments.

TL;DR: Global plastics production and the accumulation of plastic waste are documented, showing that trends in mega- and macro-plastic accumulation rates are no longer uniformly increasing and that the average size of plastic particles in the environment seems to be decreasing.
Related Papers (5)
Frequently Asked Questions (14)
Q1. What have the authors contributed in "A large-scale investigation of microplastic contamination: abundance and characteristics of microplastics in european beach sediment froukje a.e. lots" ?

2 Here the authors present the large-scale distribution of microplastic contamination in beach sediment 3 across Europe. The authors found significant variability in 5 the concentrations of microplastics, ranging from 72±24 to 1512±187 microplastics per kg of dry 6 sediment, with high variability within sampling locations. 

Raman spectroscopy 144 was used to determine the chemical composition of the visually identified MPs (HR800UV, 145 Jobin Yvon Horiba, Japan, with an integrated Olympus BX21 microscope, Japan). 

A common problem in Raman 370 spectroscopy is fluorescence, when strong light intensities are emitted, obscuring relevant peaks 371 (Bart 2006). 

After a minimum of 8 hours, approximately 75-100 mL of the supernatant was poured off 108 the surface and filtered through a vacuum pump covered with 47 mm Millipore, 0.45 μm filter 109 paper (Fisher scientific, the Netherlands). 

The direct effects of MP ingestion include reduced 40 feeding, blocking of the intestinal tract leading to starvation and impaired bodily functioning, 41 and translocation to the circulatory system (Browne et al. 

The only other materials needed to obtain the samples were a metal spoon 92 and a smartphone to take a picture of the sampling location, and note the GPS coordinates. 

Studies in Portugal, Germany, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, and France all found PE and 379 PP the most common polymer types (Martins and Sobral 2011; Kaberi et al. 

These 160 manipulations consisted of baseline corrections and truncating the spectrum to eliminate noise 161 that may interfere with the interpretation. 

A near-infrared laser (785 147 nm) was used to obtain the spectra to achieve an optimum balance between high signal intensity 148 and limited fluorescence (which can override the readable spectrum) (Löder and Gerdts 2015). 

Mt of plastic 18 waste entered the ocean in 2010 (Jambeck et al. 2015), where it will persist and accumulate 19 (Barnes et al. 2009). 

Since the first commercial manufacture of plastics in the 1940s, plastic production and 16 consumption have increased rapidly (Cole et al. 2011), with approximately 322 million tonnes 17 (Mt) of plastic produced in 2015 (PlasticsEurope 2016). 

For 366 example, Horton et al. (2017) had a polymer identification rate of 8.3%, while Frère et al. 2017 367 had a success rate of 13%. 

Distribution and abundance of small plastic debris on beaches in the SE 510 Pacific (Chile): A study supported by a citizen science project. 

356 With wastewater believed to be a likely origin of many of these fibres, the finding of these fibres 357 on marine beaches highlights the potential for widespread distribution of MPs once within the 358 environment.