iSea in collaboration with the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation along with the assistance of Typhoon's ship crew, in the context of the "Typhoon Project" studies the existance, the abundance and the composition of micorplastics in the Greek seas and coasts.
Microplastics are plastic pieces smaller than 5 mm. Depending on their origin, they are divided into "primary" and "secondary" microplastics. They are also separated in the following categories, based on their shape 1) pellets, 2) fragments 3) filaments 4) foam and 5) film
Primary microplastics are those that enter the environment when their dimension is <5mm. They are produced through industrial production and are mainly used in personal care products, creams, cosmetics, toothpaste, etc. Over time they tend to be replaced by environmentally friendly materials.
Secondary microplastics come from the degradation and the corrosion of larger plastic items into smaller plastic fragments once they reach marine or land ecosystems (GESAMP 2015). Weather conditions tend to facilitate the degradation of plastic items that are already in the environment.
Sediment samples were collected as well as surface water samples using a manta net. The sediment samples are analyzed and a density separation procedure is utilised, using the density difference between particles. Then, we removed the filters with metallic tweezers and microplastics were put on a stereoscope in order to identify the microplastics by the spectrometry Paman method.
Main objectives of the project are:
Since the start of the project, a total of 130 sediment and seawater samples have been analysed, 53 of them contained microplastics bigger than 100μm. In the total particles that were recorded in the samples, 66% of them were microplastics. The most common polymers recorded were polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS). The first two polymers are used mostly in the packaging and single-use plastic industry, while PS is most used in isolation materials, such as the foam fish boxes used in the fishing and aquaculture sector. The majority of the microplastics were fragments, which means that they originate from bigger plastic items, categorising them as secondary microplastics.
Resulting in the study of the effect of the Daniel storm on the abundance of microplastics in the Pagasitikos Gulf, we found that the storm highly increased the number of microplastics during and after the storm, while their number was still high even 300 days after the storm.
The Thermaikos and Pagasitikos Gulf were the areas with the highest number of microplastics. Possible sources of these, except the Daniel storm, are the river outflows in the gulfs, touristic and industrial activities around them, the population of the cities, the wastewater treatment plants, shipping, etc.
Find the project's report here:
Partner:
The project is implemented with the collaboration of the Environmental Chemistry Team of the Chemistry Department of the University of Patras