Characteristics of micro-plastics in stormwater sediment basin: Case study of J wetland

Urbanization has been causing such new pollutants as micro-plastic, thus the environmental impact of new pollutants on ecosystem is rapidly increasing. When it comes to micro-plastic, a representative artificial trace pollutant, its risk has been increased at a much faster rate, however the depth study associated with stormwater sediment and wetland was relatively rare. In this research, soil samples from storm water sediment were analyzed for distribution characteristics of micro-plastics in the J wetland (registered as Ramsar wetland, May 2021 and a representative environmental site in South Korea). Analyzed soil samples found approximately 201 ± 93 particle/kg (based on unit weight, Total micro plastic particles/ Total Sample weight) micro-plastics in the samples. When considering the total quantitative numbers in stormwater sediment in the entire area of the J wetland, over 15,000 micro-plastics were estimated to be contaminating such area. In addition, in terms of qualitative numbers, micro-plastics were contaminating the J wetland with 94.7% ratio of styrofoam type (43.9%) and polyethylene type (50.8%). These research results can be used as base data sets for controlling micro-plastics in the J wetland.