Microplastic occurrence in sediments of informal settlement in Durban, South Africa: assessing the ocean impact in the aftermath of floods

IF 3.5 Q3 ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL
Nokwanda Hendricks, Olatunde S. Olatunji and Bhekumuzi P. Gumbi
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Abstract

The environmental impact of microplastics is increasingly being recognized, leading to their inclusion as contaminants of emerging concern. Consequently, it is essential to identify and monitor microplastics and their impact on the ecosystem. In this study, a ball miller was employed to process plastic waste, generating microplastics for the optimisation of separation methods. Microplastics of various sizes and shapes were produced and used to spike the sediments for optimisation of the density separation method. The recovered microplastics ranged from 0.74–5 mm, as confirmed by stereomicroscopy. In addition, the types of polymers present in microplastics were confirmed using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy-Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR). The developed analytical method was employed to study the occurrence of microplastics in river sediments passing through informal settlements after floods. Moreover, the evaluated data confirmed that informal settlements are a major source of microplastics found in the ocean after a flood. Microplastics in river and ocean sediments were predominantly composed of polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene with a size range of 0.90–5 mm. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to report the impacts of informal settlements on the ocean during floods in Africa.

Abstract Image

Abstract Image

南非德班非正规住区沉积物中的微塑料含量:评估洪水过后的海洋影响
人们日益认识到微塑料对环境的影响,并将其列为新关注的污染物。因此,识别和监测微塑料及其对生态系统的影响至关重要。本研究采用球磨机处理塑料垃圾,产生微塑料,用于优化分离方法。产生的各种尺寸和形状的微塑料被用来对沉积物进行加标处理,以优化密度分离方法。经体视显微镜确认,回收的微塑料大小在 0.74-5 毫米之间。此外,还利用傅立叶变换红外光谱-衰减全反射(FTIR-ATR)确认了微塑料中的聚合物类型。所开发的分析方法被用于研究洪水过后经过非正规居住区的河流沉积物中出现的微塑料。此外,评估数据证实,非正式定居点是洪水过后海洋中发现的微塑料的主要来源。河流和海洋沉积物中的微塑料主要由聚丙烯、聚乙烯和聚苯乙烯组成,尺寸范围为 0.90-5 毫米。据我们所知,这项研究首次报告了非洲洪水期间非正规住区对海洋的影响。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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CiteScore
1.90
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