A new study recently showed that plastic pollution is clogging river systems for substantially longer compared to previously thought.
According to Mirage News, plastic litter more than five millimeters in size, or macroplastics, is traveling much slower through river systems than previously believed, at an average speed of below 0.01 kilometers per hour, and can stay in place for substantial periods.
Pollution, if not removed, not only may eventually occur in the ocean, although it may also likely adversely affect marine wildlife and the river systems' human uses.
Specifically, PET or polyethylene terephthalate, a common material for plastic bottles intended for single-use, needs UV light to break down more than 450 years.
The Research
A proof of concept research, believed to be among the initial studies of its kind, was led by Ph.D. researcher Robert Newbould, within the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment at the University of Leicester, with Professor Mick Whelan and Dr. Mark Powell.
This research involved tracking 90 sample plastic bottle "tracers" of PET released into a stream of the River Soar close to Wistow, Leicester.
Essentially, on average, for every tracer, the travel distance was 231 meters in 24 hours, with the furthest distance recorded at just below 1.1 kilometers.
According to Newbould, they were surprised at how simply the plastic bottles were trapped and their comparatively low distances for travel.
He added, their work supports other studies that existing approximations of river plastic flux to the ocean may have been overestimated, although more studies are needed to verify this.
Researchers, this report specified, were able to recover 96 percent of plastic tracers from the river system at the experiment's conclusion and retrieved too, other litter to guarantee a net decline in macroplastic pollution.
Macroplastic Pollution
Understanding and dealing with plastic pollution is a growingly essential environmental priority for policymakers, business owners, and researchers.
A study published in the Science of the Total Environment specified that awareness of the probable damage of the world's oceans has grown, although less attention is given to freshwater ecosystems.
Nonetheless, rivers are the dominant sources of plastic pollution to the marine environment, not to mention a potential sink, building up plastic from numerous sources.
Actions to lessen the presence of macroplastics in rivers are vital to the conservation of both freshwater and marine environments, although there is limited insight into potential sources, vectors, and storage of pollution.
Macroplastics in Freshwater and Marine Environment
Essentially, only a few studies examine freshwater macroplastic pollution's typologies, frequently using different categories and collection methods.
This hinders setting priorities for scientific experiments and alleviation measures. The current research determines the most prevalent macropalstic materials in freshwater environments in Europe, with a concentration on consumer plastic products such as those that could be decreased by targeted actions by the public and both government and industrial intervention.
Researchers of this particular analysis deal with the variances between reported macroplastics in the freshwater and marine environment and those approximated from litter rates.
The study investigators identified what they described as a macroplastic "Top 10," for instance, those dominant plastic typologies that need a more concentrated initiative to reformulate their use and management, and setting a common baseline for a more consistent gathering of data and approach in reporting.
Related information about the threat of macroplastics is shown on Sky News's YouTube video below:
Read also: Seafood and Plastics: How Microplastic Pollution Acts as 'Trojan Horse' to Marine Life and Ecology
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