Relationship of Suspended Atmospheric Microplastics and Meteorological Parameters in Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

Microplastic has been an interesting topic since years ago, but majority only focus on the relation between microplastics and ocean or aquatic life, therefore, the information regarding the suspended atmospheric microplastics (SAMPs) is still limited to date. Microplastics are small particles within the size of 1μm-5mm and composes of different elements. Be it marine life or airborne pathways, microplastic has become one of the major concerns among environmental researchers around the world and microplastic pollution can be expected to stay for a very long time, as plastics production keep increasing, year by year. In this regard, this study evaluates the physical characteristics of atmospheric microplastics and the relationship between its emission and meteorological data. The atmospheric microplastics were collected using a High-Volume Sampler in which the sampler was placed on a rooftop at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia for three months. The physical characteristics of microplastics were categorized by shape, colors and size using spectro-microscopy microscope. The correlation between the characteristics with environmental parameters such as rainfall, wind speed, mean temperature, and relative humidity were then evaluated. The estimated daily intake of microplastic were also determined at different human development. The atmospheric microplastics found are in the range between 300μm–5000μm, which is similar to literature. There is no correlation that can be found between the atmospheric microplastics and the meteorological data, probably due to the low number of samplings. The estimation of daily abundance of microplastics were found to be high for infants.