Indian Journal of Geo-Marine Sciences

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Quantification and Polymer Characterization of Sediment Microplastics along the Golden Beach, Puri, India


Affiliations
1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand – 835 215, India
2 Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, West Bengal – 700 019, India

Microplastics are a class of emerging pollutants of concern detected in beach sediments across the globe. Limited research on the topic has been undertaken in India, despite extensive coastlines and the country's most crowded beaches. The present study is a preliminary study on the quantification and characterization of microplastics in one of the most famous tourist destinations, the Golden beach of Puri, Odisha. An average count of 731±719 particles/kg dry weight of sediment was observed. Though ANOVA revealed a site-wise variation of microplastic types to be significantly different, Tukey posthoc test of the particle’s diversity classified according to their major activity contributors did not show significant variation. The fragments were the most abundant fraction with a total count of 2835 particles representing 39 % of the total microplastics, followed by foams (29 %), fibers (14 %), films (11 % ), microbeads (5 %), and pellets (2 %) of the total microplastic particles. Color classification revealed white, red, black, blue, green, and transparent microplastics to be abundant in all the sampling sites. Polymer characterization showed the presence of seven types of polymers being, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polyurethane (PU), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA), and Nylon. These preliminary findings would serve as an eye-opener toward the magnitude of microplastic pollution in the area and help opt for mitigatory measures to avoid further detrimental impacts on the ecosystem.
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  • Quantification and Polymer Characterization of Sediment Microplastics along the Golden Beach, Puri, India

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Authors

V. Singh
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand – 835 215, India
S. Chakraborty
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra, Jharkhand – 835 215, India
P. Chaudhuri
Department of Environmental Science, University of Calcutta, West Bengal – 700 019, India

Abstract


Microplastics are a class of emerging pollutants of concern detected in beach sediments across the globe. Limited research on the topic has been undertaken in India, despite extensive coastlines and the country's most crowded beaches. The present study is a preliminary study on the quantification and characterization of microplastics in one of the most famous tourist destinations, the Golden beach of Puri, Odisha. An average count of 731±719 particles/kg dry weight of sediment was observed. Though ANOVA revealed a site-wise variation of microplastic types to be significantly different, Tukey posthoc test of the particle’s diversity classified according to their major activity contributors did not show significant variation. The fragments were the most abundant fraction with a total count of 2835 particles representing 39 % of the total microplastics, followed by foams (29 %), fibers (14 %), films (11 % ), microbeads (5 %), and pellets (2 %) of the total microplastic particles. Color classification revealed white, red, black, blue, green, and transparent microplastics to be abundant in all the sampling sites. Polymer characterization showed the presence of seven types of polymers being, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE), Low-Density Polyethylene (LDPE), Polyurethane (PU), Polypropylene (PP), Polystyrene (PS), Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA), and Nylon. These preliminary findings would serve as an eye-opener toward the magnitude of microplastic pollution in the area and help opt for mitigatory measures to avoid further detrimental impacts on the ecosystem.