Meso and macroplastics present on the surface and soil of a stream bank in the Pampas Region of Argentina

Abstract

The presence of meso and macroplastics extracted from the surface and the soil of the banks of the most polluted point of the Langueyú stream, located in the Pampas Region of Argentina, was studied. The plastic waste extracted from the surface occupies 19.4% of the total area and 70.7% corresponded to single-use plastics, with a predominance of Bags. 331 plastic wastes were extracted from the soil, 93.7% were macroplastics, with a predominance of Threads, Others, Wrappers and Bags. The most abundant categories of mesoplastics were Bags, then Threads and Coarse plastics. 73.6% of the plastics extracted from the surface and the macroplastics extracted from the soil were white or transparent, and these occupied a total area of 8090 cm2, with a greater quantity of plastics with areas less than 100 cm2. The meso/macroplastics ratio was 0.07 on the surface and 14.76 in the soil. Macroplastics on the surface would come mainly from flooding of the stream and from inappropriately deposited waste. There would also be an influence of the wind, which could move macroplastics from their entrapment in vegetation towards the water or away from the banks of the stream. Another important process in this case is the burial of plastics in the banks of the stream and their degradation and fragmentation into mesoplastics. The results were analyzed within the framework of local and national regulations, and current legislation regarding the use of single-use plastics in other countries in the region and abroad was presented.