Microplastics Analysis for Surface Freshwater Systems: Improving Accuracy and Throughput for Industry Adoption

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The rapid growth and widespread use of plastics materials in modern societies, combined with inadequate recycling practices, has resulted in the accumulation of small plastic fragments in the environment known as microplastics. The knowledge of microplastics occurrence in freshwater systems in Canada is presently very limited, especially in western Canada. The project aims to establish a correlation between microplastics occurrence and: 1) freshwater quality parameters, and 2) urban and industrial inputs along the North Saskatchewan River (NSR) within the Edmonton Municipal Region. The data generated from this work will help establish a baseline of microplastics occurrence in the region and will directly measure the impact of our industry partners, Dow Chemical Canada and Inter Pipeline, who operate major plastics manufacturing facilities discharging into the NSR. A key deliverable of this project is the development, optimization and validation of methods suitable for rapid adoption by industry related to the collection of surface water; the isolation of microplastics from these samples; and their analysis using a high-throughput technique. This project aligns with Canada's Plastics Science Agenda and will provide unbiased, evidence-based information about the presence and typology of microplastics in freshwater systems. The results from this work will directly benefit the industry partners through data describing their environmental impact, the environmental consultancy community through access to knowledge about accurate and high-throughput methods for microplastics sample collection and analysis, and all levels of Government and the public who will be able to access useful data for public health policy development.