Raman optical tweezers for microplastic pollution identification in the surface waters of Okinawa

Abstract

Marine plastic debris is a widely recognized environmental issue. By employing an optical micro-Raman tweezers setup, we have identified the composition of particles trapped in marine aggregates collected from the coastal surface waters around the subtropical island of Okinawa, Japan. This chemical identification of small microplas- tics at the single-particle level contributes to extending our knowledge of plastic pollution in the ocean around a Blue Zone region.