4 Impact and Fate of Microplastics in the Riverine …
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entering into the ecosystem during all steps viz. production, use and disposal management. To reduce the quantity of mismanaged plastic waste, various government
agencies are taking regulatory steps. A recent report by United Nations Environment Program on ‘Single-use plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability’ underscores
the annual environmental damage to the global marine ecosystem at $13 billion
(UNEP 2018). Single-use plastics are referred to as disposal plastics which are commonly used for packaging and other plastic items, for example, grocery bags, straws,
cups and cutlery, etc., intended to be used only once before they are thrown away
or recycled. It was estimated that 47% of global plastic waste generated in 2015
is accounted by plastic packaging waste (UNEP 2018). Many countries including
Canada and India had pledged to ban single-use of plastics, such as, straws, drink
stirrers, styro foam cups, etc.
4.7 Conclusion
MPs are considered as one of the significant emerging contaminants, and they are
being found ubiquitously distributed all over the globe. Their distribution study is
being well documented in marine ecosystem; however, the same is still in infancy
stage in the river ecosystems at global platform. The rivers are considered as the
major source of MPs contamination in the marine ecosystem. The transport of plastic
particles and subsequent possible formation of MPs through various processes in
river ecosystems will highlight their possible ill effect on the freshwater biota and
a vast human population residing on the bank of these river systems. Since each
river has its own hydrodynamic characteristics and anthropogenic load on them,
modelling MPs abundance and their fate analysis should be viewed critically, and
individual approach should be taken for each river ecosystems. Advanced detection
tools such as Raman, FT-IR along the microscopes in tandem are considered to be
versatile for the detection of microplastic in the river water or sediment samples.
However, more smart and sophisticated detection procedure is still awaited since
microplastics comprises of many synthetic polymers with gradient of molecular
weights and polymeric branching along with the effect of various additives, hence
rendering multidimensional array of physical and chemical characteristics.
References
Andrady AL (2011) Microplastics in the marine environment. Mar Pollut Bull 62(8):1596–1605
Ani E-C, Wallis S, Kraslawski A, Agachi PS (2009) Development, calibration and evaluation of two
mathematical models for pollutant transport in a small river. Environ Model Softw 24:1139–1152
Avio CG, Gorbi S, Milan M, Benedetti M, Fattorini D, D’Errico G, Pauletto M, Bargelloni L, Regoli
F (2015) Pollutants bioavailability and toxicological risk from microplastics to marine mussels.
Environ Pollut 198:211–222
109
entering into the ecosystem during all steps viz. production, use and disposal management. To reduce the quantity of mismanaged plastic waste, various government
agencies are taking regulatory steps. A recent report by United Nations Environment Program on ‘Single-use plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability’ underscores
the annual environmental damage to the global marine ecosystem at $13 billion
(UNEP 2018). Single-use plastics are referred to as disposal plastics which are commonly used for packaging and other plastic items, for example, grocery bags, straws,
cups and cutlery, etc., intended to be used only once before they are thrown away
or recycled. It was estimated that 47% of global plastic waste generated in 2015
is accounted by plastic packaging waste (UNEP 2018). Many countries including
Canada and India had pledged to ban single-use of plastics, such as, straws, drink
stirrers, styro foam cups, etc.
4.7 Conclusion
MPs are considered as one of the significant emerging contaminants, and they are
being found ubiquitously distributed all over the globe. Their distribution study is
being well documented in marine ecosystem; however, the same is still in infancy
stage in the river ecosystems at global platform. The rivers are considered as the
major source of MPs contamination in the marine ecosystem. The transport of plastic
particles and subsequent possible formation of MPs through various processes in
river ecosystems will highlight their possible ill effect on the freshwater biota and
a vast human population residing on the bank of these river systems. Since each
river has its own hydrodynamic characteristics and anthropogenic load on them,
modelling MPs abundance and their fate analysis should be viewed critically, and
individual approach should be taken for each river ecosystems. Advanced detection
tools such as Raman, FT-IR along the microscopes in tandem are considered to be
versatile for the detection of microplastic in the river water or sediment samples.
However, more smart and sophisticated detection procedure is still awaited since
microplastics comprises of many synthetic polymers with gradient of molecular
weights and polymeric branching along with the effect of various additives, hence
rendering multidimensional array of physical and chemical characteristics.
References
Andrady AL (2011) Microplastics in the marine environment. Mar Pollut Bull 62(8):1596–1605
Ani E-C, Wallis S, Kraslawski A, Agachi PS (2009) Development, calibration and evaluation of two
mathematical models for pollutant transport in a small river. Environ Model Softw 24:1139–1152
Avio CG, Gorbi S, Milan M, Benedetti M, Fattorini D, D’Errico G, Pauletto M, Bargelloni L, Regoli
F (2015) Pollutants bioavailability and toxicological risk from microplastics to marine mussels.
Environ Pollut 198:211–222