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Percentage of microbeads in pelagic microplastics within Japanese coastal waters
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Researchers collected neuston net samples from 26 stations in Japanese coastal waters and found that spherical microbeads smaller than 0.8 mm accounted for 9.7% of all microplastics at the stations where they were detected, suggesting a substantial contribution of personal care product microbeads to coastal microplastic pollution.
To compare the quantity of microbeads with the quantity of pelagic microplastics potentially degraded in the marine environment, samples were collected in coastal waters of Japan using neuston nets. Pelagic spherical microbeads were collected in the size range below 0.8mm at 9 of the 26 stations surveyed. The number of pelagic microbeads smaller than 0.8mm accounted for 9.7% of all microplastics collected at these 9 stations. This relatively large percentage results from a decrease in the abundance of microplastics smaller than 0.8mm in the upper ocean, as well as the regular loading of new microbeads from land areas, in this size range. In general, microbeads in personal care and cosmetic products are not always spherical, but rather are often a variety of irregular shapes. It is thus likely that this percentage is a conservative estimate, because of the irregular shapes of the remaining pelagic microbeads.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.