Microplastics abundance in the surface water of way-belau river, lampung province, indonesia

, Alam Firdha Cahya, Sari Novi Kartika, Setiawan Faradila Retno.

The distribution of microplastics around river area are still becoming concern in the world. Indonesia as the archipelago country need to have a baseline data of microplastics in each of its big island. This study finds the characteristics of microplastic abundance in the freshwater of the Way-Belau River, Lampung Province, which is located in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. Microplastic were obtained from five sampling station and then identified using binocular microscope and Raman spectroscopy. The microplastics abundance in the surface water of the river were around 36,767 ± 21,812 particles/500 mL with the dominant type was fiber, and the size around 250 µm - 1000 µm. This abundance can be affected by the anthropogenic factors around the river such as market area, residents place, and also industrial activites. One of the polymer composition of the microplastics was detected as polypropylene. The results of this study will become the baseline of the data of microplastics occurences in freshwater ecosystem, especially in Indonesia.

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