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Fragmentation Behavior of Microplastics from Plastic Products on Road Surface
Original title: Fragmentation Behavior of Microplastics from Plastic Products on Road Surface
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This Japanese-language study simulated how plastic bags and straws on road surfaces fragment into microplastics under UV radiation and physical foot traffic. Researchers estimated that a single square centimetre of plastic bag could generate over a million sub-20-micron particles, demonstrating that road surfaces are a significant but underappreciated source of microplastics.
近年，環境中におけるマイクロプラスチック（MPs）の生成挙動について研究が進められている．これまで海底や砂浜に関する研究が進められたが，路上に関する研究は限られている．本研究では，路上におけるプラスチック製品からのMPsの生成挙動を明らかにすることを主目的とし，路上を模擬したマイクロプラスチックの生成実験を考案した．1×1cmにカットした3種類のレジ袋と3種類のストローに0, 144, 288, 576, 1152時間の5条件で紫外線（波長302nm）を照射し，0, 5, 10, 50, 200, 400回の6条件の足踏作用を加えMPsを生成させた．その結果，粒径20µm以上のMPsがレジ袋から3,900～5,710個，ストローから3～1,930個生成した．粒径20µm未満のMPsが1×1cm四方のレジ袋から面積比にて37～40％，個数にて約147万～162万個生成したと推察し，路上においてもMPsの生成が起きている可能性を示した．
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