Abstract
Microplastics (MPs) distributions have been increasingly reported in the terrestrial areas worldwide, but little information is available for ASEAN regions. In this study, 68 sediment samples of drainage channels, lakes, rivers and beaches from Myanmar were collected between 2014 and 2018, and analyzed to investigate the status of MPs concentration and prevalence. The high concentrations of MPs in sediments were found in urban cities called Yangon (13,855 pieces/kg dry weight), Mandalay (11,946 pieces/kg), and Pathein (12,583 pieces/kg), which were two orders of magnitude greater than the MPs concentrations in sediments collected in rural towns called Wundwin. These results suggested that the difference in high population densities and high municipal solid waste generation rates are related to the MPs contamination in sediments. Polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate with fragments, lines/fibers and films/sheets were major polymers and shape in the sediment samples analyzed from Myanmar. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report the distribution of MPs in sediments from Myanmar.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the academic staff and students at Pathein University and Mandalay Technological University, and Prof. Tetsuro Agusa (Prefectural University of Kumamoto) for assisting with sampling collection in Myanmar. This study was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (Grant numbers 22H03762 and 19K12372), Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) in collaboration between Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST, JPMJSA1901), and the Environmental Research and Technology Development Fund by the Ministry of the Environment, Japan (S-19, Development of Plastic Emission Inventories and Outflow Control Technologies from Land Areas, Project #: JPMEERF21S11900).
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TZT: Investigation, Data curation, Formal analysis, Writing-original draft preparation, Review and editing manuscript. EEM: Sampling, Review manuscript. HN: Conceptualization, Investigation, Resources, Funding acquisition, Review and editing manuscript.
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Tun, T.Z., Mon, E.E. & Nakata, H. Microplastics Distribution in Sediments Collected from Myanmar. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 86, 1–12 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-023-01042-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-023-01042-w