Filling in the knowledge gap: Observing MacroPlastic litter in South Africa's rivers

MARINE POLLUTION BULLETIN

卷:162

Article

Moss, Kerry¹  Allen, Deonie²  Gonzalez-Fernandez, Daniel³  Allen, Steve² 

[1] Nelson Mandela Univ, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

[2] Univ Strathclyde, WESP, Dept Civil & Environm Engn, Glasgow, Lanark, Scotland

[3] Univ Cadiz, Univ Marine Res Inst INMAR, Int Campus Excellence Sea CEIMAR, Dept Biol, E-11510 Puerto Real, Spain

关键词: Macro-plastic;    South Africa;    River monitoring;    RIMMEL app;    Visual monitoring;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111876

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Only 12% of the world's published plastic research includes references to Africa despite it being a significant contributor to the global plastic waste and mismanagement problem (similar to 88.5% of Africa's plastic waste is mismanaged). Ocean plastics are transported from land by rivers to the sea. However, source contextualization is complex. Many African rivers predominantly run alongside human settlements that host informal waste dumpsites. In this study a simple cost effective, easily deployed, consistent and replicable survey methodology was employed. The study quantified macroplastic in three rivers discharging into Algoa Bay, South Africa. The results indicated that industrial Swartkops and metropolitan Baakens Rivers both illustrate moderate plastic pollution (>3000 plastic particles/day), with the relatively natural Sundays River to showing minimal evidence of river macro plastic (<100 plastic particles/day). The types of plastic were noted using the RIMMEL app (premier African implementation), enabling proportional comparison of different plastic litter types to be completed.

【 授权许可】

Free