Page 47 - Plastics News January 2023

FEATURE

Open-Access Database Created To Help Identify Plastic Pollution Sources

Ocean systems and includes plastics
associated with coastal agriculture
and fisheries.
The library includes both new and
weathered plastics, and non-target
biological polymers commonly pre-
sent in marine environments to avoid
misidentification.

Overall, the study contributes 24 new
plastic types, and 18 biological types
that were not included in previous
databases. Two of these newly con-
tributed types of plastic were sourced
from marine fishing gear.

esearch led by the Monterey Bay help address. Scientists first need to
RAquarium and MBARI (Monterey identify microplastics to recommend A 2019 study, led by Monterey Bay
Bay Aquarium Research Institute) how to prevent each pollution path- Aquarium and MBARI, also used Ra-
provides a new open-access Raman way,” said lead author Emily Miller, a man spectroscopy to show microplas-
spectral library that can be used to Senior Research Fellow at Monterey tic pollution can be found in almost
detect molecular "fingerprints" of Bay Aquarium, “Many researchers every marine habitat on Earth. Scien-
particles and better trace sources can't afford access to the plastic spec- tists estimate more than nine million
of ocean plastic pollution. Published tral libraries needed for identification tons of plastic make their way from
in Scientific Data, the study offers and their critical work is blocked. We land into the sea worldwide every
a more extensive free resource for didn’t want to create a barrier for oth- year. To solve the global plastic pollu-
scientists to tap than previously avail- ers, so our team intentionally made tion crisis, we must identify the types
able. It adds 42 polymer types not this spectral library available to all." of plastic in the ocean and other en-
included in other open-access librar- Identifying microplastic particles is not vironments. This will help determine
ies and is the first to include polymers as straightforward as it sounds. Even where the plastic is coming from and
from non-plastic particles, such as with the use of a microscope, it can how it has entered the environment.
seagrass, shells, and animal tissues, to be difficult to distinguish between a With only nine percent of plastic recy-
prevent misidentification and improve plastic fiber and an organic fiber. Re- cled every year and plastic materials
accuracy of results. searchers in the study used Raman harming wildlife including sea turtles,
The study constructs a library of spectroscopy to identify small un- marine mammals, and seabird spe-
polymer types to match current and known materials. Using a laser pointed cies, this study can help prioritize
newly discovered plastic pollutants. at sample material, the light scatters efforts around the globe to prevent
Aquarium researchers envision other based on its chemical structure cre- plastic pollution.
scientists building and using open- ating a unique molecular fingerprint.
access libraries with more and more That fingerprint is then matched with
polymer types to better understand those of known plastics in a library to
and address the global plastic pollu- identify the material.
tion crisis. Scientists then constructed the li-
"Ocean plastic pollution is a global brary, enabling the identification of
problem that will take an interna- over forty types of plastics. Most of
tional community of scientists to the data focuses on nearshore Pacific

January 2023 PLASTICS NEWS 47