Florian Faure

Plastic pollution in Swiss surface waters: nature and concentrations, interaction with pollutants

Marine microplastic (,5 mm) water pollution has met growing public and scientific interest in the last few years. The situation in freshwater environments remains largely unknown, although it appears that they play an important role as part of the origin of marine pollution. Apart from the physical impacts on biota, chemical effects are to be expected as well, especially with smaller particles. This study aims at assessing plastic abundance in Lakes Geneva, Constance, Neuchaˆtel, Maggiore, Zurich and Brienz, and identifying the nature of the particles, potential ingestion by birds and fishes, and the associated pollutants. Lake surface transects and a few rivers were sampled using a floating manta net, and beach sediments were analysed. Plastics were sorted by type (fragments, pellets, cosmetic beads, lines, fibres, films, foams) and composition (polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene, etc.); fish and water birds were dissected to assess their potential exposure, and analyses were conducted on the hydrophobic micropollutants adsorbed to the microplastics as well as some potentially toxic additives they contained. Evidence of this pollution is shown for all lakes, microplastics of all types and diverse composition having been found in all samples. Birds and fish are prone to microplastic ingestion, and all the tested chemicals (both adsorbed micropollutants and contained additives) were found above the detection limit, and often the quantification limit. The sources and their respective contribution need to be confirmed and quantified, and the ecotoxicological effects need further investigation. Other questions remain open, including the transport and fate of plastic particles in the environment.

Toxicity Assessment of Pollutants Sorbed on Microplastics Using Various Bioassays on Two Fish Cell Lines

Microplastics are tiny plastic fragments resulted from runoff and weathering breakdown of larger plastics debris. They represent an emerging concern for marine ecosystems. Microplastics impacts on aquatic life are little studied. These small particles could be ingested directly by organisms and cause chronic physical and toxicological effects. Moreover, microplastics are the support for a lot of chemicals present in aquatic environment, especially hydrophobic substances. The aims of this study is to investigate toxicity of environmental microplastics samples collected during the Race for Water Odyssey in fish cell lines. A difference of sensitivity was observed between fish cell lines. Preliminary results obtained here support that RTLW-1 could be an interesting tool to evaluate the potential chemical toxicity of microplastics and sorbed pollutants. Toxicity of extracts from MP collected worldwide suggests a biological impact?

Sources and Fate of Microplastics in Swiss Surface Waters

While plastic pollution in marine environments is getting better known and is the subject of a continuously growing number of publications, fresh- waters still receive too little attention. Some studies worldwide focused on the nature and concentrations of microplastics in freshwater bodies, but data is so far very limited and fragmentary. Microplastics were studied in Swiss surface waters since 2012, first in order to show the reality of this contamination, and later to better understand its nature and extent. Microplastics were found in significant concentrations in all the sampled lakes and rivers, both on the water surface, beach sediments, and benthic sediments, as well as in organisms (fishes, birds, and zebra mussels). They were shown to contain potentially toxic additives, as well as to adsorb hydrophobic contaminants (Faure et al., 2015). Some pathways into the water bodies have then been studied including Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTPs) urban runoff waters, soils or storm overflows. Potential sources and pathways of (micro-) plastics in the Lake Geneva watershed are now the focus, on the basis of the fractions of plastics that enter the environment at all stages of their life cycle depending on their use, and on the plastic types and quantities that can be found in the different environ- mental compartments. This dual approach of material flow modeling and a strong integration of measured environmental data is the first step towards producing a mass balance of microplastics in the Lake Geneva watershed.

Types and concentration of microplastics found on remote island beaches during the Race for Water Odyssey

Initiated in 2015 by the Race for Water Foundation, the Race for Water Odyssey is an environmental expedition which sailed across Atlantic, Pacific & Indian Oceans. It has 3 main goals: i) analyse plastic pollution on beaches of remote islands; ii) raise awareness about water plastic pollution; iii) identify solutions to prevent waste from ending in the ocean. Results: High inter-archipelago and inter-beaches variability of micro-plastic concentrations for this worldwide study The North and South Pacific Gyres are the most polluted areas, followed by the North Atlantic Gyre and the Indian Ocean Gyre. Data for the South Atlantic Gyre will come later Hard fragments in large proportion in every stopover, probably mostly due to the degradation of larger plastic debris Pellets also are of great concern, as they were found in every beach, except for Palau  Higher polyethylene proportion for hard fragments (1-5 mm), with significant local variations