Chapter 4
Impact and Fate of Microplastics
in the Riverine Ecosystem
Dhruba Jyoti Sarkar, Soma Das Sarkar, Santanu Mukherjee,
and Basanta Kumar Das
4.1 Introduction
In recent times, there has been great interest on ubiquitous occurrence and harmful
effect of plastic debris including microplastics (MPs) in the global ecosystems. They
have been identified as one of the significant indicators of the anthropocene (Waters
et al. 2016; Patel et al. 2019a) and also included in the list of ‘contaminant of emerging concern’ (CEC) besides other chemical pollutants due to their ability to cause
potential threats to the biosphere. The term MPs generally refers to plastic particles
with longest diameter of <5 mm (Andrady 2011; Browne et al. 2011). However,
recently the term has been suggested to include only plastic particles <1 mm (Lambert et al. 2014). Above this range, the plastic particles were termed as mesoplastic
(>1 to ≤5 mm) and macroplastics (>5 mm) (Lambert et al. 2014). But at present,
the upper limit of MP is widely accepted to be 5 mm in view of the small size that
can be readily ingested by the organisms (GESAMP 2015). The MPs are present
in the environments for many years now, as reported by early researchers in 1970s
(Carpenter et al. 1972; Colton et al. 1974; Gregory 1977; Singh et al. 2020); however,
they have not been studied extensively till early 2000s, thus qualifying them as CEC
(Lambert et al. 2014; Wagner et al. 2014; Garthwaite et al. 2010).
In 2018, the world production of plastic reached 359 million tonnes, an increase
of 15.43% from 2014 (Plastics Europe 2019). China and Japan are the two top plastic
producing countries in world, accounting for 30% and 4% of global plastic production, respectively (Plastics Europe 2019). However, in 2014, it was estimated that
the per capita consumption of plastic materials in Asia (China, 45 kg/person; India,
D. J. Sarkar (B) · S. Das Sarkar · B. K. Das
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Kolkata 700120, West Bengal, India
e-mail: dhruba1813@gmail.com
S. Mukherjee
Discipline of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat 382355, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Kumar et al. (eds.), Contaminants in Drinking and Wastewater Sources,
Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4599-3_4
95
Impact and Fate of Microplastics
in the Riverine Ecosystem
Dhruba Jyoti Sarkar, Soma Das Sarkar, Santanu Mukherjee,
and Basanta Kumar Das
4.1 Introduction
In recent times, there has been great interest on ubiquitous occurrence and harmful
effect of plastic debris including microplastics (MPs) in the global ecosystems. They
have been identified as one of the significant indicators of the anthropocene (Waters
et al. 2016; Patel et al. 2019a) and also included in the list of ‘contaminant of emerging concern’ (CEC) besides other chemical pollutants due to their ability to cause
potential threats to the biosphere. The term MPs generally refers to plastic particles
with longest diameter of <5 mm (Andrady 2011; Browne et al. 2011). However,
recently the term has been suggested to include only plastic particles <1 mm (Lambert et al. 2014). Above this range, the plastic particles were termed as mesoplastic
(>1 to ≤5 mm) and macroplastics (>5 mm) (Lambert et al. 2014). But at present,
the upper limit of MP is widely accepted to be 5 mm in view of the small size that
can be readily ingested by the organisms (GESAMP 2015). The MPs are present
in the environments for many years now, as reported by early researchers in 1970s
(Carpenter et al. 1972; Colton et al. 1974; Gregory 1977; Singh et al. 2020); however,
they have not been studied extensively till early 2000s, thus qualifying them as CEC
(Lambert et al. 2014; Wagner et al. 2014; Garthwaite et al. 2010).
In 2018, the world production of plastic reached 359 million tonnes, an increase
of 15.43% from 2014 (Plastics Europe 2019). China and Japan are the two top plastic
producing countries in world, accounting for 30% and 4% of global plastic production, respectively (Plastics Europe 2019). However, in 2014, it was estimated that
the per capita consumption of plastic materials in Asia (China, 45 kg/person; India,
D. J. Sarkar (B) · S. Das Sarkar · B. K. Das
ICAR-Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute, Kolkata 700120, West Bengal, India
e-mail: dhruba1813@gmail.com
S. Mukherjee
Discipline of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar, Gandhinagar,
Gujarat 382355, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
M. Kumar et al. (eds.), Contaminants in Drinking and Wastewater Sources,
Springer Transactions in Civil and Environmental Engineering,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4599-3_4
95