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Microplastics pathways in the urban environment: Urban roadside snowbanks
Summary
Researchers sampled urban roadside snowbanks in a Canadian city and found high concentrations of microplastics, with tire wear particles and synthetic fibers most abundant. The study demonstrates that urban snowbanks accumulate microplastics throughout winter and release a pulse of contamination into waterways when they melt in spring.
The knowledge base concerning microplastics (MPs) in the environment is rapidly developing with the goal of closing the existing knowledge gaps. One of such gaps, the occurrence of MPs in roadside snowbanks in urban areas, was surveyed at 16 sites in two northern Swedish cities, Luleå and Umeå, with the objective of estimating the quantities of MPs in snowbanks and evaluating the influence of site characteristics on such estimates. The MPs extracted from the melted snow samples were classified into three categories (the mean particle concentrations are shown in the brackets): 1. Tire and pavement wear particles (19,300 particles/L), 2. Road marking paint particles (430 particles/L), and 3. Plastics particles (33 particles/L), No correlations were found between the MP concentrations and site characteristics. The study provided the evidence that urban snow stores MPs, which may reach the receiving waters either with direct snow disposal or snowmelt discharge via storm sewers.