Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 2-2-2021 2:00 PM Plastic debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes System, North America: Analysis of types, abundances, and sources Ian A. Arturo, The University of Western Ontario Supervisor: Corcoran, Patricia L., The University of Western Ontario A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the Master of Science degree in Geology © Ian A. Arturo 2021 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, and the Geology Commons Recommended Citation Arturo, Ian A., "Plastic debris in the Laurentian Great Lakes System, North America: Analysis of types, abundances, and sources" (2021). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 7758. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/7758 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ii Abstract Understanding plastic pollution in the Laurentian Great Lakes system requires investigation of all plastic debris sizes and categories. Visible polymeric debris (VPD) mainly characterize shorelines, and microplastics (MPs; <5 mm) are found in benthic and beach sediment. Field sampling of VPD from all five Great Lakes, visual and chemical identification of VPD types, and implementation of a matrix scoring technique (MST) indicate that plastic industries, urban areas, and shoreline recreation are major sources of VPD. Sampling for MPs in the St. Clair system, followed by preliminary density separation, and microscopy, suggest that wastewater treatment plants are a major source. This work is the first freshwater study to use an MST and the largest published lacustrine VPD study. The results should encourage industry, policy makers, and the general public to work towards a circular economy. Keywords Laurentian Great Lakes, plastic pollution, visible polymeric debris, anthropogenic debris, beaches, matrix scoring technique, microplastics, polymer identification, FTIR. iii Summary for Lay Audience The Laurentian Great Lakes and their tributaries are major sinks for plastic debris. Visible polymeric debris (VPD) were sampled from 66 beaches across all five Great Lakes. All VPD were categorized, and multiple determinations and analyses were made based on the characterizations. In total, 21,595 VPD items were collected. Plastic pre-production pellets, attributed to the plastics industry, were characterized as a part of a separate, published study. These pellets were the most abundant VPD, accounting for 12,595 items or 58.3% of the total count. Detailed, multi-step characterizations of all VPD items were performed by morphology (e.g. film, fragment, textile, pellet), colour, size fraction (micro: 1-5 mm; meso: 5-25 mm; and macro: >25 mm), and whether the item was intact. When appliable, VPD were described by item use (e.g. pen), polymer (e.g. polystyrene), and other materials present (e.g. aluminum). Polymers were identified through a variety of methods including physical identification and known usage in conjunction with a spectrometer. This study represents the first to use multiple identification methods supplemented with spectroscopy for polymer determination. Branded items were assigned to parent companies, and country of origin (US or Canada) was determined when possible, whereas multiple categorization schemes were applied based on item use. The top 50 ranked items, excluding pellets, were scored with a matrix scoring technique (MST) to determine the probable origin of VPD from three general sources – shoreline recreation, sewage related debris (urban sources), and agriculture. It was determined that VPD in the MST mostly originated from shoreline and urban sources, whereas pellets originated from the plastics industry. Additional evidence, including the presence of shotgun wads/gas seals and intact cigarette butts on beaches, points to a strong influence of local sources. Additionally, microplastics were sampled from St. Clair system benthic sediment and beach sediment. Although this research is ongoing, potential microplastic concentrations from benthic sediment samples are within the range reported from other Great Lakes samples. The results from this study should encourage a move towards a more circular economy and provide a basis for future methodology for VPD characterization and sourcing. iv Co-Authorship Statement The following conference presentations and public regulatory comments contain text and data that have been used in this manuscript. Although text in this thesis has generally been revised and modified, some text has been included verbatim from the sources below. All of these works were written and/or presented by the first author, I. Arturo, who conducted the majority of the St. Clair system field work and laboratory work. Arturo was also a part of a group of 13 people who sampled 66 Great Lakes beaches for pellets and other visible polymeric debris (VPD) in October 2018 and processed the pellet samples (Corcoran et al., 2020a; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141227). For the present thesis, Arturo performed the majority of non-pellet VPD laboratory work, and all data analysis, mapping, figure and table creation, and writing. P. Corcoran supervised this study, planned the Great Lakes sampling, and provided guidance, revisions, reformatting, and final approval of this thesis. Arturo, I.A. 2020. Comments on ‘Draft science assessment of plastic pollution’. Environment and Climate Change Canada & Health Canada. Submitted on May 1, 2020. Arturo, I.A. Plastic debris on St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair beaches: Implications for Canadian and US environmental policies. EnviroCon 2020, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Mar. 13, 2020. *Conference cancelled due to COVID-19* Arturo, I.A., & Corcoran, P.L. Microplastic pathways to Lake St. Clair as evidenced in sediment and stormwater outfall samples. IAGLR 2019, SUNY Brockport, Brockport, NY, Jun. 11, 2019. Oral presentation. v Acknowledgments In memory of Grandma GG and Uncle Michael, both of whom passed away during my thesis work and who shaped who I am today. I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr. Patricia Corcoran, for providing guidance and encouragement and for allowing me to modify my thesis at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thank you to the Department of Earth Sciences administrative staff – Amy Wickham, Miyako Maekawa, Kristen Harris, Erika Gongora, and Vesna Jarvis. Thank you to Ephie Tsiapalis for housing me during my time in London, providing wonderful homecooked Greek meals, and for keeping me in line and also to Catherine and Johann Wong for making London feel like home when I first arrived. Thank you to my best friend and fiancée, Carolina, my parents Lawrence and Zeena, brothers Dakota and Dylan, and other family, relatives, and friends both in London and around the world. Thank you to Jasmine Nieva, Nina Kozikowski, and Tim Howe, who helped with St. Clair system field sampling. Thank you also to Jasmine, Nina, and Tegan Moore, who helped initially look over the visible polymeric debris (VPD) samples. Sara Belontz, thank you for training me in the lab and for help with lab work questions throughout the microplastics portion of my thesis. Thank you to all the people who sampled VPD in October 2018 for this study. Thank you, Becky Sarazen at Surface Science Western, for performing FTIR analysis on my samples. Debbie Burniston from ECCC (retired) provided the St. Clair River sediment split samples. Additional technical assistance, including help identifying certain items, was performed by Natty Boom, Sean Kenny, Sam Mason, Niels Kanstrup, and Cass Marion. Finally, thank you to Dr. Rob Schincariol, Dr. Fred Longstaffe, and Dr. Paul Mensink who served on the examination committee and provided helpful critiques, and to Guy Plint for chairing the examination committee. This thesis was funded through P. Corcoran’s NSERC Discovery Grant, Kelly Jazvac’s SSHRC Insight Grant, and the Western Graduate Research Scholarship, Arcangelo Rea Family Foundation Graduate Scholarship, and the Collaborative Specialization in Environment and Sustainability Travel Award. vi Table of Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ii Keywords ............................................................................................................................ ii Summary for Lay Audience ............................................................................................... iii Co-Authorship Statement................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xii List of Appendices .........................................................................................................