A research study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Marine Plastics Abatement

Research studies project report (M.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2021

In the present, plastic litter is one of the biggest environmental problem mankind are facing. But it just doesn't end there, what follows is much more severe. Microplastics are the result from degradation process of that break down plastics product we use and discard into small piece, and they could also be intentionally made as a small plastic for some specific tasks. Due to improper waste management in many places around the world, these microplastics could easily enter our nature environment and then our food chain. The definition of microplastics is any synthetic solid polymer, with size ranging from 1 om. to 5 mm. and insoluble in water. Plastics product contains many kinds of chemical inside them and there is no exception for microplastics. Accumulation of microplastics in living organisms{u2019} cells and tissues can cause both acute and chronic danger. Currently, there are still no standardized sampling method or identifying lab procedure for these microplastics, not even a control to prevent them to contaminate our living environment. Therefore, microplastics can be easily exposed to us in our daily life. Microplastics samples in water were collected by using a pump-like equipment called 2Albatross3 with a sieving net install inside to filter the micro-particle. The sediment sample were drawing out from the shore and passed through the sieve later. The method used to process the microplastics out from the sample is the method suggest by the Marine Plastics Abatement program at Asian Institute of Technology. The result found by this research indicates that most of microplastics in Prasae river came from aquacultural area but may not be from only aquacultural activities but also ordinary communal activities of the people who live in the aquacultural area such as cloth washing and littering. The characteristics of the microplastics from the river are various such as fiber, film, hard particle and soft particle. The compositions are also various but most type of microplastics found are the same type with common plastics that could be found in daily use such as polyester, polyethylene and polypropylene. The topic of microplastics is still new to human. Few people know or have heard about this word and fewer know the meaning and its capability. A lot more research and knowledge are still in need to develop standardized method to tackle the problem.