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The Flux of Macro Plastic from the Scheldt Basin Towards the Sea

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The Flux of Macro Plastic from the Scheldt Basin Towards the Sea INTERUNIVERSITY PROGRAMME ADVANCED MASTER OF SCIENCE IN ‘TECHNOLOGY FOR INTEGRATED WATER MANAGEMENT’ THE FLUX OF MACRO PLASTIC FROM THE SCHELDT BASIN TOWARDS THE SEA Laurens Hermans Studentnumber UGent: 017121533 Studentnumber UAntwerpen: 20176277 Promotor: Prof. dr. Stefan Van Damme Copromotor: dr. Tom Maris Supervisor: drs. Bert Teunkens Master's dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in ‘Technology for Integrated Water Management’ Academic Year: 2017 - 2018 Abstract Plastic contamination is an increasing environmental problem. Many aquatic species and birds get entangled, wounded or ingest plastic fragments with devastating effects. Besides is plastic also found to effect plants and even humans. Most of the plastic in the sea originates at land and is transported via the wind, rivers and coasts to the sea. Based on data of the plastic waste production of the inhabitants of the Scheldt basin, the waste production of inland navigation and waste created in the ports, this study modelled the flux of macro plastic from the Scheldt basin towards the sea. This flux is between 7.9 and 48.6 tons a year with the average scenario indicating 18.2 ton. This is a small number compared to major rivers in Europe and could be, besides the fact that the basin is much smaller than the other basins, related to the good waste management with only 0.6% of the yearly plastic waste production which is littered. Using limited data on the cleaned-out materials and by estimating a waste input per kilometre, a second model was made to study the spatial behaviour of the macro plastic distribution in the waterways. While this model could not be correct calibrated, an indicative calibration using the modelled flux showed that the Maritime Scheldt delivers double the amount of plastic compared to the ‘kanaal Gent-Terneuzen’. The large cities are the major contributors of plastic litter within the basin. To reduce the flux of macro plastic towards the sea, it is important to reduce the amount of plastic waste generated and to improve the management of plastic waste further. Also, additional research is necessary to determine the plastic waste hotspots and to test the effect of different measurers to reduce plastic waste. I Acknowledgments This thesis was written with the primary aim of fulfilling the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in ‘Technology for Integrated Water Management’. Secondly this thesis contributes to the research of pollution within the Scheldt basin. Writing a thesis requires a lot of support not only for the knowledge but also motivational support. Therefore, I like to thank everyone who contributed to my thesis or supported me. Especially thanks to Tom Maris and Bert Teunkens, who helped me by giving knowledge, feedback and justified criticism. Also, thanks to my promotor prof. Stefan Vandamme for helping me to understand the basic dynamics and processes present within the Scheldt basin. Last but not least I have to thank my parents for their financial and motivational support, my sister Karolien for correcting my English and my family, my classmates and friends for their support and assistance. II Table of contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................................... I Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................................... II Table of contents .................................................................................................................................... III List of Figures .......................................................................................................................................... V List of Tables .......................................................................................................................................... VI List of Abbreviations .............................................................................................................................. VII 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Problem statement................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Relevance ................................................................................................................................ 5 1.3. Research objectives and questions ......................................................................................... 5 2. Study area ....................................................................................................................................... 7 2.1. Situating ................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2. The ports and waterways ...................................................................................................... 10 3. Material and methods .................................................................................................................... 13 3.1. Top-down model: Downscaling of global models .................................................................. 13 3.1.1. River pathway ................................................................................................................ 14 3.1.1.1. Mismanaged plastic waste (MPW) in the Scheldt basin ........................................ 14 3.1.1.2. Plastic load towards the sea based on Lebreton et al. (2017) .............................. 15 3.1.1.3. Plastic load towards the sea based on Schmidt et al. (2017) ................................ 15 3.1.2. Inland shipping and port pathway .................................................................................. 16 3.1.2.1. The amount of plastic entering the water via inland shipping and port activities .. 17 3.1.2.2. Transport losses .................................................................................................... 17 3.2. Bottom-up block model .......................................................................................................... 19 3.2.1. Plastic entering the district ............................................................................................. 22 3.2.2. Cleaned out plastic ........................................................................................................ 23 3.2.3. Plastic losses due to blockages ..................................................................................... 23 3.2.4. Calibration of model ....................................................................................................... 24 4. Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................... 25 4.1. Definitions .............................................................................................................................. 25 4.2. The production of plastic ....................................................................................................... 26 4.3. Types of plastics .................................................................................................................... 27 4.3.1. Low-density polyethylene .............................................................................................. 28 4.3.2. High-density polyethylene ............................................................................................. 28 4.4. The usage of plastic .............................................................................................................. 29 4.5. Plastic waste .......................................................................................................................... 30 4.5.1. Selectively collected plastic waste ................................................................................. 30 4.5.2. Plastic via domestic waste ............................................................................................. 31 4.5.3. Littered plastic ................................................................................................................ 32 III 4.5.4. Industrial plastic waste................................................................................................... 34 4.5.5. Total land-based plastic waste ...................................................................................... 35 4.5.6. Water-based plastic waste ............................................................................................ 36 4.6. The degradation of plastic ..................................................................................................... 38 4.7. Distribution and spreading of plastics in the aquatic environment ........................................ 39 4.8. The effects of plastic in the aquatic environment .................................................................. 41 4.8.1. The effect of macro plastics ........................................................................................... 41 4.8.2. The effect of micro plastics ............................................................................................ 42 4.8.3. The effect of chemicals attached to plastics .................................................................. 43 4.9. Plastic
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