Comparisons of microplastic pollution between mudflats and sandy beaches in Hong Kong

Comparisons of microplastic pollution between mudflats and sandy beaches in Hong Kong

INTERNATIONAL MARINE LITTER DATABASE

Comparisons of microplastic pollution between mudflats and sandy beaches in Hong Kong

Hoi-Shing Lo, Xiaoyu Xu, Chun-Yuen Wong, Siu-Gin Cheung,

Comparisons of microplastic pollution between mudflats and sandy beaches in Hong Kong,

Environmental Pollution, Volume 236, May 2018, Pages 208-217, ISSN 0269-7491,

Abstract:
Most of the previous studies of microplastic pollution on coastal
habitats focused on high energy beaches although low energy areas such
as mudflats are supposed to retain more microplastics, not to mention
that mudflats are biologically more diverse.
We quantified andcharacterized microplastics from 10 mudflats and 10 sandy beaches in
Hong Kong spanning from the eastern to western waters. Sediment samples
were collected at 1.0 m and 1.5 m above chart datum (CD) and at the
strandline. Abundance of microplastics ranged between 0.58 and 2116
items kg−1 sediment with that on mudflats being ten times more than on
beaches. Polyethylene (46.9%) was the most abundant and followed by
polypropylene (13.8%) and polyethylene terephthalate (13.5%).
Expanded polystyrene was the most abundant in the strandline samples but not at
1.0 m and 1.5 m above CD.

Although previous studies have concluded that the input from Pearl River is a major source
of microplastics on HongKong shores, this study has demonstrated that the contribution of local pollution
sources such as discharge from sewage treatment plants to microplastic pollution should not be neglected.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1folzxJOL2Iln0t3mliGIM6k0ZsWa08Nb
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.01.031.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749117345451)