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Analysis of marine plastic fragments using a portable near-infrared instrument: The effect of scanning position on the classification of polymer type
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Scientists tested a handheld scanning device that can quickly identify what type of plastic washes up on beaches, without needing a lab. This matters because knowing the exact plastic type helps determine if it's safe to recycle or if it might break down into harmful microplastics that can end up in our water, food, and eventually our bodies—making cleanup efforts smarter and more efficient.
Marine plastic pollution poses significant environmental challenges, including ingestion by wildlife and chemical contamination. Despite global clean-up efforts, appropriate reuse remains challenging due to difficulties in identifying polymer types, especially after environmental weathering. Vibrational spectroscopic techniques, such as near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy, have been explored to characterise marine plastics due to their rapid, non-destructive nature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of a portable NIR instrument to monitor polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) in marine polymer fragments (MPF). The MPFs ( n = 62) were obtained from an Australian beach, speciated by polymer type, and analysed using a handheld NIR instrument at three different scanning positions. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to predict polymer type. The coefficient of determination in cross-validation (R 2 CV ) ranged between 0.58 and 0.70, while the standard error in cross-validation (SECV) ranged between 0.26 and 0.31, depending on the scanning position used to develop the PLS calibration models. The results indicated that the classification of the PE samples ranged from 89 to 100%, while the classification of the PP samples ranged from 70 to 100%. Results from this study provide an opportunity to employ relatively inexpensive, compact NIR spectroscopy for in-field identification of MPFs collected from different environmental sites (e.g., beaches).
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