Microplastic contamination of coastal hill soils: Perspective of Rohingya Refugee camps in Bangladesh

Microplastics (MPs) pollution of environments due to human activities is a global concern. In the present study, we examined the occurrence of MPs in coastal hill soils (burned and non-burned) collected from the Rohingya Refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. The total number of MPs per kg of burned soil (402–403 items/kg) sample was significantly higher than that in non-burned soil (210 items/kg) sample. Fibers (24–57%) dominated in all the samples, followed by fragments (18–51%), sheet (12–29%), and microbeads (12–13%). The most common color of MPs was blue (16–68%), followed by red (14–25%), transparent (14–24%) and brown (14–22%). Among the size groups, MPs of 0.5-<1.0 mm (34–44%) dominated in all the samples, followed by 1.0–5.0 mm (27–45%) and <0.5 mm (14–29%). Attenuated Total Reflectance Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy analysis confirmed the most abundant polymer type in burned soil was polystyrene (28%) followed by polypropylene (23%), polyethylene (21%), polyamide (15%), ethylene-vinyl acetate (8%), and polyvinyl chloride (3%). The study confirms the presence of high MPs loads in burned soil, with high potential of trophic transfer to plants and washed out to aquatic environment and will appear as base line information for further assessment of MPs effects on biota.