Riverine microplastic pollution matters: A case study in the Zhangjiang River of Southeastern China.

Abstract Microplastics have pulled the alarm for its far-reaching impacts in the environment and potential risks to human health. Here, we first investigated the microplastic pollution in the Zhangjiang River of southeastern China. Water samples were collected across a river catchment using bulk sampling method. The abundance, distribution, and characteristics of microplastics were analyzed using stereomicroscopy and micro-Raman spectroscopy. The results indicated that microplastic abundance ranged from 50 to 725 items m−3 with an average of 246 items m−3. PP and PE were the major polymers and accounted for ~75%. The dominant shape, color, and size of microplastics are fragment, white, and 0.5–1 mm, respectively. The findings established the baseline information on the microplastic pollution in the Zhangjiang River, which may improve the knowledge of sources of microplastic debris to the local watershed and future evaluation on the role of river catchments in transporting microplastics to the estuary and beyond into the ocean.