Department of Sciences, University of Roma Tre, viale G. Marconi 446, 00146 Rome, Italy.
ISPRA, Dipartimento BIO, Via Brancati 48, 00144 Rome, Italy.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 20;857(Pt 3):159713. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.159713. Epub 2022 Oct 24.
Rivers are undoubtedly the main pathway of waste dispersed in the environment that from land reaches oceans and seas increasing the amount of marine litter. Major cities are a great source of riverine litter as large urbanization can originate pressure on the integrated waste management resulting in litter entering the rivers. Within this study, we aim to investigate the dynamic of floating riverine macrolitter (items >2.5 cm) in the city of Rome before it reaches the sea by assessing the composition, amount, and seasonal trends of litter transported from the urban centre to the main river mouth of Tiber River. Visual surveys for a whole year (March 2021-February 2022) were conducted from two bridges, Scienza Bridge (in the city) and Scafa Bridge (at the main river mouth) and followed JRC/RIMMEL protocol for riverine litter monitoring. Overall, similar litter composition was observed from the city centre to the mouth with a prevalence of plastic material, mainly related to fragmentation process (i.e. plastic pieces) and single use items, mainly in food and beverage sectors. An extrapolated annual loading of 4 × 10 items/year was estimated at the main mouth of Tiber River. The litter flux seems to be influenced by the seasonal variability and hydrometeorological parameters. The frequency of size classes decreases with increasing size in both sites, and more than half of the recorded items were below 10 cm. Specific categories belonging to "other plastics" have been reported related to anti-Covid-19 behaviour such as face masks and beverage sector, e.g. bottle lids and rings. The main colour of plastics was white, suggesting weathering process of floating riverine litter. This study contributes to increasing knowledge of the origin, composition and spatiotemporal dynamics of riverine floating litter from the city and entering the sea.
河流无疑是环境中分散的废物的主要通道，这些废物从陆地进入海洋和海洋，增加了海洋垃圾的数量。大城市是河流垃圾的主要来源，因为大规模的城市化可能会对综合废物管理造成压力，导致垃圾进入河流。在本研究中，我们旨在通过评估从城市中心输送到台伯河主要河口的垃圾的组成、数量和季节性趋势，来研究罗马市进入海洋之前的浮流水生大垃圾（>2.5 厘米的物品）的动态。对整一年（2021 年 3 月至 2022 年 2 月）进行了视觉调查，从两座桥梁进行，分别是 Scienza 桥（位于城市中心）和 Scafa 桥（位于主要河口），并遵循 JRC/RIMMEL 河流垃圾监测协议。总体而言，从市中心到河口观察到相似的垃圾组成，以塑料材料为主，主要与碎片化过程（即塑料碎片）和一次性使用物品有关，主要来自食品和饮料行业。估计在台伯河的主要河口处每年有 4×10 个物品的排放量。垃圾通量似乎受到季节性变化和水文气象参数的影响。在两个地点，尺寸等级的频率随着尺寸的增加而降低，记录的物品中有一半以上小于 10 厘米。属于“其他塑料”的特定类别与抗新冠疫情行为有关，例如口罩和饮料行业，例如瓶盖和瓶环。塑料的主要颜色是白色，表明浮流水生垃圾的风化过程。这项研究有助于增加对城市起源、组成和时空动态的河流浮流水生垃圾的了解，并进入海洋。
