We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Suspended Airborne Microplastics Across Urban Roadside Environments in Cagayan de Oro City, Philippines: Compositional Variation and Implications for Urban Air Quality
Summary
Researchers tested the air along busy streets in a Philippine city and found tiny plastic particles—mostly fibers from things like clothing and packaging—floating in every sample they collected, meaning people breathing roadside air are likely inhaling these particles regularly. While this study didn't test health effects directly, it adds to growing evidence that microplastics are a normal part of city air we breathe every day, which matters since scientists are still working out what these particles might do to our lungs and bodies over time.
Atmospheric microplastics are increasingly recognized as emerging contaminants in urban air, yet evidence from Philippine cities outside Metro Manila remains limited. This study provides a preliminary roadside baseline assessment of airborne microplastics in Cagayan de Oro City, southern Philippines. Atmospheric particles were collected from 12 roadside stations distributed across four urban roads, with three stations per road, during a standardized dry-season midday sampling period, and were subsequently subjected to alkaline digestion, microscopic screening, and ATR-FTIR confirmation. Of 99 visually suspected particles, 44 were verified as synthetic polymers and retained in the final dataset. Mean atmospheric microplastic concentrations ranged from 0.0079 to 0.0212 items m−3, with J.R. Borja Street showing the highest concentration and Nazareth Street the lowest. Abundance did not differ significantly among roads, whereas particle shape, color, and polymer composition showed significant differences within the confirmed dataset, while size-class distribution did not. Fibers were the dominant morphology (56.8%), transparent particles were the most common color class (52.3%), and polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate were the predominant polymers. Taken together, the findings confirm the presence of airborne microplastics across roadside environments in Cagayan de Oro City and suggest that, under the sampled conditions, spatial variation was more evident in particle characteristics than in overall abundance. This study contributes an initial polymer-confirmed roadside dataset for a secondary Philippine city and highlights the value of composition-based assessment in urban air quality monitoring.