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Microplastics Distribution in Sediments Collected from Myanmar
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The first microplastic survey of Myanmar found alarmingly high concentrations in urban drainage, lake, river, and beach sediments — up to 13,855 pieces per kilogram in Yangon — dominated by polyethylene, polypropylene, and PET fragments. Concentrations in rural areas were orders of magnitude lower, confirming that population density and poor waste management drive microplastic contamination of freshwater and coastal sediments.
Microplastics (MPs) distributions have been increasingly reported in the terrestrial areas worldwide, but little information is available for ASEAN regions. In this study, 68 sediment samples of drainage channels, lakes, rivers and beaches from Myanmar were collected between 2014 and 2018, and analyzed to investigate the status of MPs concentration and prevalence. The high concentrations of MPs in sediments were found in urban cities called Yangon (13,855 pieces/kg dry weight), Mandalay (11,946 pieces/kg), and Pathein (12,583 pieces/kg), which were two orders of magnitude greater than the MPs concentrations in sediments collected in rural towns called Wundwin. These results suggested that the difference in high population densities and high municipal solid waste generation rates are related to the MPs contamination in sediments. Polyethylene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate with fragments, lines/fibers and films/sheets were major polymers and shape in the sediment samples analyzed from Myanmar. To our knowledge, this is the first study to report the distribution of MPs in sediments from Myanmar.
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