School of History, Culture and Tourism, Huaiyin Normal University, Huai'an, 223300, China.
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Feb;28(5):6132-6145. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-10987-7. Epub 2020 Sep 28.
As prime coastal recreational areas, beaches attract an increasing number of users worldwide. However, current studies have shown that beaches are subject to plastic pollution, one of the most significant global environmental threats. Considering the health of tourists and ecological environmental management of beaches, microplastics on recreational beaches are urgently being studied. This paper first focused on microplastics on the recreational beaches of Haichow Bay, which is located on the central coast of China and faces the Yellow Sea. The microplastic pollution level, occurrence, and distribution were investigated. Our study demonstrated that microplastics were consistently found on all studied beaches, which emphasized their extensive distribution throughout recreational beaches. The average microplastic abundance was 106.50 ± 34.41 items/kg, demonstrating that the microplastic pollution level on the studied beaches tended to be in the middle-to-low position compared with previous studies. In total, eight colors were found, more than 90% of microplastics were less than 1 mm in size, and fiber and fragments were the dominant shapes. Resort beaches contained the highest number of microplastics, indicating that the microplastic pollution level on recreational beaches was directly related to the tourism intensity. Five types of plastic were found in the samples, i.e., polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), PS (polystyrene (PS), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and nylon. Land inputs were the main source of pollution. This study provided baseline information on microplastic pollution that can be used for effective and comprehensive management of recreational beaches and suggests that the management of plastic use and recycling on beaches should be integrated into China's'coastal zone management practices.
作为主要的沿海休闲区，海滩吸引了越来越多的全球使用者。然而，目前的研究表明，海滩受到塑料污染的影响，这是全球最重要的环境威胁之一。考虑到游客的健康和海滩的生态环境管理，人们迫切需要研究休闲海滩上的微塑料。本文首先关注位于中国中部海岸、面向黄海的海南湾休闲海滩上的微塑料。调查了微塑料污染水平、出现和分布情况。研究表明，所有研究海滩都持续存在微塑料，这强调了它们在休闲海滩上广泛分布。平均微塑料丰度为 106.50 ± 34.41 个/千克，表明与先前的研究相比，研究海滩上的微塑料污染水平倾向于处于中低水平。总共发现了八种颜色，超过 90%的微塑料小于 1 毫米，纤维和碎片是主要形状。度假海滩上含有最多的微塑料，这表明休闲海滩上的微塑料污染水平与旅游强度直接相关。在样本中发现了五种类型的塑料，即聚乙烯（PE）、聚丙烯（PP）、聚苯乙烯（PS）、聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯（PET）和尼龙。陆地输入是污染的主要来源。本研究为微塑料污染提供了基线信息，可用于休闲海滩的有效和综合管理，并建议将海滩上的塑料使用和回收管理纳入中国的沿海带管理实践。
