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SOURCES of MICROPLASTICS to the GREAT LAKES: WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS By: Mala C

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SOURCES of MICROPLASTICS to the GREAT LAKES: WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS By: Mala C SOURCES OF MICROPLASTICS TO THE GREAT LAKES: WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS By: Mala C. Hettiarachchi, PhD, PE Presentation to: January 2019 SHOUT-OUT Thankful for ERG’s support on microplastic research and outreach. ERG pledged to provide about $100,000 in-kind support for the NOAA grant application submitted in December 2018 to conduct microplastic characterization and fate and transport research. Appreciate the support provided by the co-author, Matthew J. Germane, PE Thankful for Monika Hentze and Mathias Bath, PhD of Germany for letting me use their WWTP information for this presentation. Proud of the ERG ownership and employees who are committed to minimize plastic pollution via personal actions. We are a small, nimble, very experienced company with more than 25 employees at three offices in Michigan (Detroit, Wixom, Muskegon). PRESENTATION CONTENT Plastic pollution Outreach - Plastic waste minimization Background of Microplastics WWTPs as a source of microplastics Sustainable WWTP – Example Microplastic Removal at WWTPs PLASTIC POLLUTION AT A GLANCE Plastic is strong, flexible and durable making it extremely useful. Plastic is persistent in the environment. For example, a plastic bottle can last for 450 years in the marine environment, slowly fragmenting into microplastics. Removal of the microscopic plastic pieces in our oceans is an impossible task. Remnants of a bird that died with the plastic in its gut. Studies show that at least 8 million tons of plastic waste enter the oceans every year. Source: University of South Carolina Approximately 100,000 marine mammals and turtles and 1 million sea birds are killed by marine plastic pollution annually. PLASTIC POLLUTION IN THE GREAT LAKES Rochester Institute of Technology estimated that nearly 22 million pounds of plastics enter the Great Lakes every year. Source: Driedger et. al. (2015) OUR CONTRIBUTION TO PLASTIC POLLUTION Americans represent 5% of the world’s population and generate 30% of the world’s garbage. In a lifetime the average American will personally throw away 600 times his/her adult bodyweight of trash – mostly plastic waste. Americans use approximately 2,500,000 plastic bottles every hour and only less than 15% are recycled. In the USA, 500 million plastic straws are used every day. How we can help? Stop using more plastic and spread the word. OUTREACH –PLASTIC WASTE MINIMIZATION PREVENTION OF MARINE PLASTIC POLLUTION Source control is one of the best solutions to this global problem. This can be achieved by: Regulations Outreach – via raising public awareness on plastic pollution Promoting behavioral changes Source control using technology New recycling methods Innovative uses of plastic waste CURRENT REGULATIONS: MACRO-PLASTICS Rwanda: Banned single-use plastic bags in 2008 and has a zero tolerance policy toward plastic bags. Europe: The European Parliament voted for a complete ban on a range of single-use plastics across the union in October 2018. The ban will go into effect across Europe by 2021. Kenya: As of August 2017, anyone using, producing, or selling a plastic bag faces up to four years in jail, or a $38,000 fine. Morocco: Banned the production, import, sale, and distribution of all plastic bags in July, 2016 (Prior to the ban, Morocco was the second largest plastic bag consumer in the world after the USA) China: On December 31st, 2017, China banned the plastic waste that was imported from industrial countries like the USA for recycling / disposal. This ban might leave 111 million metric tons of plastic trash with nowhere to go. China has imported about 45% of the world plastic waste since 1992 for recycling. City of Montreal: Banned single-use plastic bags in 2018; Seattle: Banned plastic straws and single-use plastic utensils in July 2018; New Delhi (a city of 20 million): Banned all forms of single-use plastic in 2017; California: Banned full-service restaurants from providing plastic straws unless requested in 2019. Australia: Banned free, lightweight plastic bags in 2018. SOLUTIONS How many times can plastic be recycled? Reduce, reuse, and recycle to Most Recyclable Plastics: 1-2 times minimize plastic pollution The size of the carbon chain gets reduced when recycled due to heat and mechanical stress. • Segregation is essential for recycling Plastic is recycled to make fibers (e.g., for clothing). to be effective. Contaminated waste Most of the time, plastic products created with streams will end up in landfills or our recycled plastics cannot be recycled. oceans. • Remember, recycling comes after HDPE: Maybe recycled 4-7 times due to their long prevention, minimization and reuse in carbon chain. the waste management hierarchy. Glass and Metal including aluminum: Unlimited number of times or infinite Paper: 5-7 times. With each recycling process, the fibers become shorter, coarser and stiffer. Final uses are egg cartons or newspapers -- biodegradable. #4: LDPE (Low-Density Polyethylene) - less toxic than other plastics; reusable; not easy to TYPES OF PLASTIC recycle {e.g. shopping bags} #5: PP (Polypropylene) – recyclable and reusable {e.g. toys, furniture} #1: PET (Polyethylene Terephthalates) - single #6: PS (Polystyrene) – May leach styrene (a use; repeated use may leach carcinogens; carcinogen) when heated; not easy to recycle recyclable to make fiber {e.g. Water bottles} {e.g. toys, vending cups} #2: HDPE (High-Density Polyethylene) – one of #7: Other – contains BPA; not usually recycled the safest forms of plastic; reusable and {e.g. nylon} recyclable {e.g. shampoo bottles} #7 PLA: compostable plastics #3: PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) - contains many leachable toxins; not recyclable {e.g. food #7 PC: ‘non-leaching’ but trace amounts of BPA foil} can leach when heated or used for hot liquids THINGS YOU CAN DO Say no to straws and plastic water bottles Use reusable/washable cloth grocery bags Use cotton produce bags Buy milk/juice in glass bottles Buy products stored in glass, metal or paper/cardboard containers Use stainless steel washing machine lint traps to capture plastic fiber Minimize, reuse, and recycle We can help reduce plastic pollution right now with our personal choices and actions BACKGROUND OF MICROPLASTICS MICROPLASTICS: AN EMERGING CONCERN Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters. PRIMARY microplastics are purposefully manufactured to be of microscopic size. SECONDARY microplastics are derived from the fragmentation of macroplastic items. Found virtually everywhere: water, sediments, soil, and air. Microplastics with size ≤ 20 μm can penetrate into organs. Fate and transport of very small microplastics (e.g., nano particles) is yet to be discovered. CURRENT REGULATIONS: MICROBEADS Several counties have banned (or are proposing banning) the sale, manufacture, and import of rinse-off products containing microbeads. USA (2015 Microbead-Free Waters Act); Canada; multiple European nations; Taiwan, UK, New Zealand, Australia, India. Note: While the composition of microplastics varied spatially and temporally, it is dominated by fibers, fragments, and flakes, as opposed to beads and pellets. Source: http://www.waterkeeper.ca MICROPLASTICS IN THE FOOD CHAIN Microplastic ingestion causes physical harm and reproductive complications in marine / freshwater life New research showed that A Damselfish larva that has ingested tiny microplastics are getting plastic particles into mosquitoes. This means contaminating the animals in the air like bats, dragonflies, and crickets and an unlikely food chain SORPTION BEHAVIOR Microplastics can act as vectors of additives incorporated during manufacture and toxic pollutants sorbed from the surrounding media to biota. The sorption behavior of some PFAS to the types of microplastics (polyethylene, polystyrene, and polyvinylchloride) are evident (Wang et.al., 2015). The molecular composition and structure of microplastics play important roles in the sorption Photo source: Google processes of toxic pollutants. MICROPLASTICS IN HUMANS Microplastics in human stool, in the size range from 50 to 500 µm, have been identified by the Medical University of Vienna and the Austrian Federal Environment Agency in 2018, in all eight participants of their pilot study. Microplastics have been detected in bottled water and tap water. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in March 2018 that it is launching a review of the potential risks of plastic particles in drinking water. The complete impact on human health is yet to be discovered. WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANTS AS A SOURCE OF MICROPLASTICS SOURCES OF MICROPLASTICS Storm Sewers Atmospheric Combined Sewer Overflow Deposition AND Runoff Many others WWTPs Photo source: Google SOURCES TO THE GREAT LAKES – WASTEWATER EFFLUENT There are several WWTPs, including Detroit WWTP, one of the largest facilities in the USA with the dry weather capacity exceeding 650 million gallons per day, that discharge wastewater to the Great Lakes. Unfortunately, these facilities are not designed to remove small microplastics from the effluent. SOURCES TO THE GREAT LAKES – BIOSOLID LAND APPLICATION Land application of sewage sludge or biosolids on agricultural land is a commonly used method. Between 110,000 and 730,000 tons of microplastics are transferred every year to agricultural soils via biosolid land application in Europe and North America (Norwegian Institute for Water Research). A large portion of the microplastics re-enter the aquatic environment via agricultural runoff. Effect of microplastics
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