Mikroplastikoen karakterizazio kimikoa eta morfologikoa: Sopelako Atxabiribil hondartzako kasua

Abstract

The presence of microplastics is increasing in all the world's oceans and can accumulate in biota, marine waters, sediments and coasts. The magnitude of this problem, which is becoming a global issue, is yet to be investigated on the Basque coast. Taking the beach of Atxabiribil in Sopelana as an example and in order to start making progress in this issue, microplastics have been collected by hand and further characterized morphologically and chemically. We measured the shape, colour and chemical structure of the collected items and the relationships among were investigated. Most of the microplastics were white pellets of polyethylene.