Identification of microplastics in water in the Sukolilo Coastal Area, Bangkalan Regency, East Java

Abstract

Plastic pollution in coastal and marine areas will continue to increase as human activity increases to dispose of plastics directly into the aquatic environment. Microplastics are plastics that have long been polluted in waters that have been degraded by nature into small particles <5mm. Microplastics are widespread and can be found in water, biota and aquatic sediments. This study aims to determine the abundance of microplastics in water in the coastal waters of Sukolilo village, Bangkalan Regency. This research method uses purposive sampling method, at 3 collection stations, each water sampling is filtered as much as 50 liters. Microplastic identification was carried out with H2SO4 and H2O2 solutions with a concentration of 30% after which visual analysis was carried out using a microscope which was used to determine the color and type of microplastics found. The results of observations found three forms of microplastics, namely fiber, fragments, film. In water samples, the highest pollution was found with an average of 4.32 particles / L at station 14.32 particles / L, station 2 as many as 3.36 particles / L and station 3 as many as 3.28 particles / L. The percentage of microplastic forms in the highest water is fiber with a percentage value of 91%.