Contaminação por Microplásticos em Balneários Utilizados para Lazer no Médio Amazonas, Brasil

Abstract

The world production of plastic has increased exponentially over time, from 230 million tons in 2005 to 322 million tons in 2015. In 2019 this number reached the 368 million mark and a large amount of these materials leads to a sharp number of the percentage of plastic waste. This study aimed to investigate microplastic contamination in resorts used for leisure in the Middle Amazon, in Itacoatiara, AM, Brazil. A semi-structured questionnaire was applied to those responsible for each spa to verify the destination of plastic waste. In all, 202 microplastic particles were recorded in the areas of use in the five resorts investigated. The number of microplastics ranged from 0 to 7 particles per sample. From these results, it is possible to observe that there was no significant difference in the number of microplastic particles between each spa (KW=7.4805; P=0.1126). The size of the microplastic particles differed significantly between the resorts (KW=40.9582; P=0.0001), with the smallest particle recorded in the Campo resort (0.150mm) and the largest in the Ada resort (4.909mm). Blue and red colored microplastic particles were recorded, with blue colored particles being the most abundant. Regarding the shape of microplastic particles, two types were observed: fibers (n=219) and fragments (n=8). Comparing all areas of use and adjacent areas of the spas, it was observed that there was a significant difference between the number of microplastic particles (U=7.4686; P=0.0001). In general, there was no significant difference between the size of microplastic particles in the areas of use and adjacent areas of all spas (U=0.6505; P=0.5154). The correlation of data between the number of particles found in the spas and the frequency of use of the spas, performed by the Spearman correlation test, were not statistically significant (rs=0.4472; P=0.4502). The results of this study indicate that microplastics are present in the resorts of the Middle Amazon and that contamination in areas used for leisure is significantly higher than in areas not used for this purpose, despite the fact that most places have dumps and some type of collection. of plastic waste. Probably no further contamination was found due to the characteristics of the locations (floodplain areas), where periodic flooding occurs once a year. Although there are garbage cans and solid waste collection in most places, bathers still discard garbage in the environment.