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Plastic in global rivers: are floods making it worse?

Environmental Research Letters 2020 183 citations ? Citation count from OpenAlex, updated daily. May differ slightly from the publisher's own count. Score: 55 ? 0–100 AI score estimating relevance to the microplastics field. Papers below 30 are filtered from public browse.

Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Shaun Harrigan, Shaun Harrigan, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Shaun Harrigan, Caspar T. J. Roebroek, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Calum Baugh, Calum Baugh, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Dirk Eilander, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Dirk Eilander, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Christel Prudhomme, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Christel Prudhomme, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Florian Pappenberger, Florian Pappenberger, Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik Tim van Emmerik

Summary

Researchers combined global data on mismanaged plastic waste with river flood models to estimate how floods mobilize plastic pollution. They found that floods with a 10-year return period can increase plastic mobilization tenfold, with low- and middle-income countries disproportionately affected. The study suggests that climate-driven increases in flood frequency could significantly worsen riverine plastic pollution worldwide.

Study Type Environmental

Abstract Riverine plastic pollution is of global concern due to its negative impact on ecosystem health and human livelihood. Recent studies show a strong link between river discharge and plastic transport, but the role of floods is still unresolved. We combined high-resolution mismanaged plastic waste data and river flood extents with increasing return periods to estimate flood-driven plastic mobilisation, from local to global scale. We show that 10 year return period floods already tenfold the global plastic mobilisation potential compared to non-flood conditions. In the worst affected regions, plastic mobilisation increases up to five orders of magnitude. Our results suggest a high inter-annual variability in plastic mobilisation, previously ignored by global plastic transport models. Flood defences reduce plastic mobilisation substantially, but regions vulnerable to flooding often coincide with high plastic mobilisation potential during floods. Consequentially, clean-up and mitigation measures and flood risk management are inherently interdependent and need to be managed holistically.

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