Study of macroplastic transport and hotspots in urban river system

Abstract

Management of floating macroplastic pollution in urban river system is gaining importance due to the significant impact it has on the marine environment and the economic activity of the area. Studies have shown that most of the plastic waste emitted into the urban rivers system, are believed to be land-based plastic. Urban areas are one of the main sources of plastic pollution because these areas are densely populated and are often the center of commercial activity. Despite this, data on what affects the transport, distribution and fate of floating plastic waste in urban river systems are scarce. This lack of information and data can curtail the evolution of effective mitigation measures to collect and remove floating plastic waste. In freshwater system it is understood that surface river flow velocity is the main environmental parameter affecting the speed, distribution and the distance floating plastic moves. To understand how river surface velocity influence these processes in the Brunei River estuary, passive floater experiments was carried out periodically over a period of six months. The specific aim of this experiment is to 1) measure longitudinal variation of river surface velocity, 2) investigate the spatial variation of macroplastic, 3) understand macroplastic fate and hotspot formation. The information and data collected from the experiments can be used to give a first-order prediction of hotspots in the Brunei River estuary.