Microplastics on Barra beach sediments in Aveiro, Portugal
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Updated: Nov 11, 2025
Extraction of Organochlorine Pesticides from Plastic Pellets and Plastic Type Analysis
Published on: July 1, 2017
Khawla Chouchene1, Joana C Prata2, João da Costa2
1Université de Sfax, Laboratoire de Génie de l'Environnement et Ecotechnologie, GEET-ENIS, Route de Soukra km 4, Po. Box 1173, Sfax 3038, Tunisia.
Abstract:
Microplastic (MPs) pollution has been recognized as a serious threat to marine environment with the growing use of plastics. There is no sufficient data on the extent and characteristics of MPs pollution in the beach sediments and sand in the Atlantic Ocean. The coastal area is one of the main tourist zones in Aveiro in Portugal, thus, impacted by both tourism and maritime traffic, which are major sources of MPs. Considering this issue, 33 sediment samples were collected from the Praia da Barra beach in Aveiro. This pilot study showed that large quantities of MPs are accumulated on this beach with a median concentration of 100 MP kg-1 (15-320 MP kg-1), that is dominated by polyethylene (30%), polypropylene (27%), polystyrene (18%), nylon (12%), and polyester (6%). Size <1 mm constituted 99.5% of particles, mostly of transparent or black colors, with highest concentrations closest to the water line.
