Microplastic characterization in Tunasan River in Metro Manila Maria Antonia Tanchuling Institute of Civil Engineering University of the Philippines Diliman World Water Week Stockholm, Sweden August 27, 2018 Rivers are highways of plastic litter transport to lakes and oceans The Philippines is the 3rd largest source of plastic leaking into oceans Jambeck, et. al. (2015) ARGOTA, BAJADO TUNASAN RIVER Laguna Lake • One of the 21 major tributaries to Laguna Lake • 9 km • 3 barangays (Tunasan, Cuyab, San Antonio) • Traverses through factories, commercial establishments, an industrial complex, and residential areas • several informal settlements ARGOTA, BAJADO River Mouth Pinagbuklod: 3000 m from river mouth Cuyab: 260 m from river mouth Bolivar: 2370 m from river mouth Regala: 1520m from river mouth ARGOTA, BAJADO SOLID WASTE CHARACTERIZATION COLLECTED A REPRESENTATIVE SACK FOR EACH STATION ESTIMATED VOLUME OF WASTE SEGREGATED WASTE AND WEIGHED EACH TYPE OF MATERIAL ARGOTA, BAJADO COLLECTION OF MICROPLASTIC SAMPLES ALLOWED 20L OF COLLECTED TRAPPED COLLECTED WATER WATER TO PASS MATERIAL IN EACH FROM 3 POINTS THROUGH SERIES SIEVE AND STORED IN ACROSS THE STATION OF SIEVES SEPARATE JARS ARGOTA, BAJADO SOLID WASTE Solid Waste Characterization for all Sampling Sites- SUMMARY OF SOLID WASTE CHARACTERIZATION IN Total ALL SITES FOR ALL SAMPLING DATES Paper Other Metals Yard Waste 100,00 1% Leather Wood Tin Cans 1% 90,00 Foil/Wrapper 1% 3% 3% Others 80,00 Textiles/Clot 1% h 70,00 Others Rubber/Tires Textiles/Cloth 60,00 Leather 18% 13% 50,00 Wood Yard Waste Glass 7% 40,00 Other Metals 13% Paper 30,00 6% 20,00 Foil/Wrapper SOLID WASTE SAMPLES (%) 10,00 Tin Cans Plastics 33% 0,00 Rubber/Tires CUYAB REGALA BOLIVAR PINAGBUKLOD Glass SAMPLING STATIONS Plastics PLASTIC (33%), RUBBER (18%), GENERALLY, PLASTICS, GLASS AND GLASS (13%), AND TEXTILES (13%) RUBBER WERE FOUND AT ALL CONSTITUTE MAJORITY OF SOLID STATIONS WASTES ARGOTA, BAJADO MACRO PLASTIC WASTES Plastic Waste Characterization for all Sampling Summary of Plastic Wastes in all Sampling Sites Polystyrene Stations for all Sampling Dates PVC (PS) Hard Plastic Film Plastic PVC 20,00 13% 8% 15,00 Film Plastic Sacks (PP) 10,00 (PE,PP) 26% 25% 5,00 0,00 Hard Plastic SAMPLES (KG) PLASTIC WASTE CUYAB REGALA BOLIVAR PINAGBUKLOD (HDPE, PP) SAMPLING STATIONS 28% Summary of Plastic Waste in all Sampling Stations for all Sampling Dates Hard Plastic Film Plastic PVC 100,00 80,00 60,00 40,00 20,00 SITE)PERTOTALMASS PLASTIC WASTE SAMPLE (% OF OF (%SAMPLE PLASTIC WASTE 0,00 CUYAB REGALA BOLIVAR PINAGBUKLOD SAMPLING STATIONS ARGOTA, BAJADO MICROPLASTICS SIZE RANGE 0.300 - 0.800 mm 0.800 - <4.76 mm fragment 49.22 50.78 pellet 0.00 100.00 foam 37.50 62.50 filament 45.10 54.90 film 28.79 71.21 TOTAL 47.93 52.07 MICROPLASTICS QUANTITY AND CONCENTRATION Sampling station Particle count Concentration (particles/L) Cuyab 7-1351 0.12-22.52 Regala 7-57 0.12-0.95 Bolivar 6-10 0.10-0.17 Pinagbuklod 8-9 0.10-0.15 ARGOTA, BAJADO PARTICLE TYPE and MORPHOLOGY Types of Microplastics (L-R): fragment, COMPOSITION OF MICROPLASTICS BY SAMPLING pellet, fiber, film (30x magnification) STATION fragment pellet foam filament film 100,00 80,00 60,00 40,00 TOTAL MASS SITE PERTOTALMASS 20,00 Nort h 0,00 MICROPLASTIC WASTE SAMPLES (% OF OF (% SAMPLES WASTE MICROPLASTIC CUYAB REGALA BOLIVAR PINAGBUKLOD SAMPLING SITE ARGOTA, BAJADO COLOR OF MICROPLASTICS MAIN COLORS OF MICROPLASTICS IN TUNASAN RIVER blue-green brown pink violet yellow transparent clear white-… white green black blue red 0 100 200 300 400 500 MICROPLASTIC PIECES fragment pellet foam filament ARGOTA, BAJADO FTIR IDENTIFICATION OF POLYMER TYPE FRAGMENTS, N=24 COMPOSITION OF TOTAL 4% MICROPLASTICS BY POLYMER TYPE polyethylene, 21% high density polypropylene 50% 7% polyethylene, high polyethylene density (Mn 1800) 14% polyethylene polypropylene 25% (Mn 1400) 43% polyethylene (Mn 1800) P E L L E T S , N = 1 1 17% 9% polyethylene, polyethylene (Mn 6500) high density 18% polypropylene 19% polyethylene (Mn 1400) 55% polyethylene 9% (Mn 1800) polyethylene Polyethylene (81%) 9% (Mn 6500) F I L M S , N = 6 Polypropylene (19%) 17% 16% polypropylene polyethylene (Mn 1800) 17% polyethylene (Mn 6500) polyethylene (Mn 1400) 50% ARGOTA, BAJADO CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Abundance of plastic litter on the river shows that the ban on plastic bags of Muntinlupa and San Pedro is not strictly implemented. 2. Frequent collection of garbage particularly in areas near the river should be done. 3. Conduct awareness campaign on solid waste pollution, its risks, and role of inhabitants on solid waste (and plastic) pollution. 4. Technology to recycle single-use plastics should be studied and supported, particularly polyethylene and polypropylene. Social entrepreneurship is encouraged particularly for waste collection. 5. Close open dumpsites and penalize waste haulers who illegally dump its collected wastes. ARGOTA, BAJADO Maraming salamat! .