Microplastic as an emerging contaminant in marine environment

Abstract

Pieces of plastic debris introduced into the environment at a size of less than 1 or 5 mm are categorized as ‘microplastics.’ Microplastics are divided into primary (manufactured at small sizes) and secondary (large plastics broken into small pieces) plastics. Various marine invertebrates and vertebrated have been reported to uptake microplastics as sea. Upon ingestion of microplastics, the pollutants absorbed on and (or) used as additives in the plastic can be transferred to the marine organisms. Abundance of microplastics stranded on sand beaches and floating in sea surfaces southern coast of Korea was relatively high in the world. Various synthetic polymers were identified using a FT-IR microscope including polyethylene, polypropylene, expanded polystyrene (styrofoam), alkyd, polymeric silicone and so on, Fragments and fiber are dominant microplastic types. Styrofoam spherules contain high concentration of HBCDs up to ppm level as flame retardant additive. They easily leaches out from styrofoam spherules in sea water. HBCDs from styrofoam buoy in study area is high enough to contaminate surrounding water, sediment and biota. Further fragmentation of styrofoam spherules were tested with a laboratory accelerated mechanical abrasion simulating beach environments for a month. Forty styrofoam spherules were further fragmented to total 5.15x105/bottle, and 85% of the fragmented particles were in size range of 1-25 μmmall pieces) plastics. Various marine invertebrates and vertebrated have been reported to uptake microplastics as sea. Upon ingestion of microplastics, the pollutants absorbed on and (or) used as additives in the plastic can be transferred to the marine organisms. Abundance of microplastics stranded on sand beaches and floating in sea surfaces southern coast of Korea was relatively high in the world. Various synthetic polymers were identified using a FT-IR microscope including polyethylene, polypropylene, expanded polystyrene (styrofoam), alkyd, polymeric silicone and so on, Fragments and fiber are dominant microplastic types. Styrofoam spherules contain high concentration of HBCDs up to ppm level as flame retardant additive. They easily leaches out from styrofoam spherules in sea water. HBCDs from styrofoam buoy in study area is high enough to contaminate surrounding water, sediment and biota. Further fragmentation of styrofoam spherules were tested with a laboratory accelerated mechanical abrasion simulating beach environments for a month. Forty styrofoam spherules were further fragmented to total 5.15x105/bottle, and 85% of the fragmented particles were in size range of 1-25 μm