Preliminary assessment on the microplastic contamination in the atmospheric fallout in the Phuoc Hiep landfill, Cu Chi, Ho Chi Minh city

Thuong Quoc Thinh¹, Truong Tran Nguyen Sang ^{1, 2}, Tran Quoc Viet^{1, 2}, Le Thi Minh Tam², Nguyen Phuoc Dan², Emilie Strady^{2, 3, 4}, Kieu Le Thuy Chung^5*

¹Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

²CARE (Asian Center for Water Research), University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

³Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, IRD, Grenoble, France

⁴Aix-Marseille Univ., Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO), Marseille, Université de Toulon, CNRS /IRD, France

⁵Faculty of Geology and Petroleum Engineering, University of Technology, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam

Received 16 September 2019; accepted 25 November 2019

 

Abstract:

Microplastic pollution has become a global issue in recent years. Since the early 2000s, scientists have investigated the occurrence of microplastics (MiPs) in the environment. While research on marine MiPs is more advanced at present, there are immense gaps of knowledge regarding continental MiPs. Airborne MiPs are one source of MiPs in the aquatic environment. In the scientific literature, there have been only three publications on presence of MiPs in atmospheric fallout. In developing countries, where plastic waste management is weak, studies on the presence of MiPs in this area are limited. This current study presents a preliminary assessment of the presence of MiPs in atmospheric fallout sampled from the Phuoc Hiep landfill, Ho Chi Minh city (HCMC). The results of this work show that MiP concentrations vary between 1,801 items m^-2d^-1 and 913 items m^-2d^-1 in the dry and rainy seasons, respectively.

Keywords: atmospheric fallout, microplastics, Phuoc Hiep landfill.

Classification number: 5.1