Microplastics are everywhere. They are on our streets, in our clothes, in beauty products and now they are in our oceans. But how are they affecting the world’s seas?
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island are starting to tackle the complex issue of microplastics in the ocean. Focusing on Narragansett Bay, the husband-wife team of Andrew Davies, Ph.D. and Colleen Suckling, Ph.D., as well as the Director of the Coastal Resource Center, J.P. Walsh, Ph.D., and teams of graduate and undergraduate students are all leading the charge to discover more about these microscopic fragments.
“The biggest problem with microplastics is that it is an early science,” Davies said. “In a way, [the] problem has grown dramatically in how we approach it and study throughout the last few years.”
According to Suckling, there is no “standard definition” of what microplastics in the sea are, but generally, they are understood to be plastics under five millimeters in size.
This is part of URI’s mission in researching microplastics: to further develop an understanding in a relatively new field of study. Specifically, the research can be broken into three different studies.
The first one is examining microplastics in the water column. The second is collecting sediments and categorizing the amount of microplastics in these sediments. Finally, the last study dissects the amount of microplastics in commercial crops, like oysters, and how those organisms may be affected. This research is attempting to map the amount, and see if there are any correlations between locations and other properties.
To understand how microplastics affect the ocean, one has to look at how they enter it. To do that Davies asked a simple question: “What are you wearing?”
Chances are you’re wearing a polyester blend and every time it is washed thousands of microplastics and threads flow down the drain to water treatment plants, where the particles are so small, they pass through any filtration system. This water then floods into rivers and, eventually, it ends up in Narragansett Bay.
Microplastics also come from sources like face washes, whitening toothpastes, car tires, degradation of larger plastics, mismanaged waste and cement.
“Plastics have been around for over a century now,” said Walsh, “but we are just beginning to learn how they are impacting our environment.”
Walsh’s project is looking at where microplastics will end up, whether that be in the sediment at the bottom of the ocean or along the beaches that Rhode Island is known for. There is a working hypothesis that plastic is likely settling in the finer sediment areas of the Bay, places with silt and sand. Researchers hope that there will be a traceable record of this accumulation throughout time.
These new research projects differ greatly from those in the past. Previously scientists were attempting to elicit a response by inputting microplastics in a confined space that would never occur naturally.
“If we put you in a fish tank, and added microplastic particles, of course it will affect you in some way shape or form,” Davies said. “That’s how our projects are different.”
Suckling and Davies want to characterize what’s in the natural environment and use that to create realistic scenarios. Collaborating with Save The Bay, a local group striving towards building a bay, one aspect of the research is surface mapping. They are surveying for several types of microplastics by using surface trawls in multiple locations throughout the Bay.
However, there are numerous challenges when it comes to accurate microplastic research. The process of collecting and analyzing data is very delicate, with cross-contamination an ever-present risk. They are currently in the stages of developing a process that attempts to minimize the chance of contamination, whether that be from clothing or the air itself; the technology needed is great.
The room in which research is done needs to be very clean, according to Suckling.
“With our clothing, we are a walking contamination disaster,” said Suckling. “We get these air purification systems in to flush out all the airborne particles. We likely will control what people wear, like cotton lab coats.”
Luckily, URI already has one of those very clean rooms, and the modifications are being completed and implemented right now. But that’s not all that needs to be done. The method of finally extracting data from the microplastic samples is laborious.
The process includes digesting the organic tissues off, then using strong salts to float out the plastic based on density. From there, the microplastics are filtered, dried and observed under the microscope, then characterized, according to Suckling.
The process is not easy, according to Davies, but this research is necessary. As much as the researchers love discovering more information about microplastics, there are steps the community can take to decrease the number of microplastics released.
“There is reduce, reuse and recycle,” said Walsh. “Reduce is the one that we don’t emphasize enough. Our demand and use of plastic and waste is what creates the problem.”
Suckling and Davies said that if the average student wants to make an impact, all it takes is reducing. For example, some can use a reusable coffee cup instead of a disposable one. Just being conscientious about what you consume will make a difference.