Preliminary Investigation of Microplastics in Roadside Soils of Port Harcourt and Elele in Rivers State, Nigeria

From Firenze University Press Journal: Substantia

Nkoli Mgbemena, Department of Chemistry, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria

Vivian Mgbo, Department of Industrial Chemistry, Madonna University, Elele Campus, Rivers State, Nigeria

Victoria Princewill, Department of Industrial Chemistry, Madonna University, Elele Campus, Rivers State, Nigeria

Gloria Ndukwe, Department of Chemistry, Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria

Rocktim Das, Molecular Invertebrate Systematics and Ecology (MISE) Laboratory, Graduate School of Engineering and Science, University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan

Ifenna Ilechukwu, Department of Chemistry, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria

Plastic use in Nigeria has grown over the years to become an essential part of everyday life due to its favourable properties such as afford-ability, durability and wide application in various sectors such as health, food and beverage packaging, textile and agriculture. Annual plastic use in Nigeria has grown from 1 million in 2015 to 1.5 million tons in 2020. Furthermore, more than 5 million sachet water packages are disposed of per day in Nigeria without any plan for recycling or proper man-agement. Increasing plastic use has led to increased plastic disposal, and due to poor waste management system and recycling infrastructure in Nigeria, plas-tic wastes accumulate, pollute the environment and inevitably end up in the marine and freshwater ecosys-tems. Plastic waste management has remained one of Nigeria’s greatest environmental challenges. Recently, the Lagos state government banned the use of single-use plastics (SUPs) in the state because they block the stormwater channels, causing flooding in the country’s commercial and most populous state. Plastics, when littered in the environment fragment into microplastics because of diverse environmental and biological factors. Microplastics are plastic particles that are less than 5 mm in any one dimension. They are either primary microplastics when they are intentionally produced to be 5 mm, or secondary microplastics when they break out from larger plastic materials in diverse shapes such as fragments, fibers, and films. Microplastics are per-sistent in the environment and can be transported from one ecosystem to another causing harm to biodiversity when ingested by organisms or via entanglement. Toxic plastic constituents may also leach from microplastics, contaminating the environment. In some cases, micro-plastics transport pollutants from highly polluted area to less polluted or pristine environment. One of the major sources of pollutants to the aquatic ecosystems is road soils and dusts. Transportation of legacy pollutants such as polychlorinated biphenyls, petroleum hydrocarbons and heavy metals from road soils to aquatic ecosys-tems have been reported in literature. Also, micro-plastics have been reported to be transported from road-side soils and dusts into aquatic ecosystems. Furthermore, vehicle parts and tires are significant sources of microplastics due to wear and tear as well as friction between tires and road surfaces leading to release of tire particles on the road. Thus, roadside soils may be huge reservoir of microplastics. As emerging pollutants, adverse effects of microplastics on biodiversity include reduced fertility, oxidative stress, poor feeding and growth, change in soil properties and reduced crop yield. Currently, there is no data on plastic pollution in road soils in Nigeria except for Okigwe road in Imo state. Effects such as microplastics contamination of garri (cassava flakes) spread on roadside for drying have also been reported by Enyoh et al. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the occurrence of microplastics in roadside soils in Port Harcourt and Elele in Riv-ers State, Nigeria. The result of this study is expected to provide baseline data on microplastic pollution of road-side soil.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/Substantia-2661

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