Special Issue (Environmental Engineering)Paper
ELUCIDATION OF THE ACTUAL STATE OF EXISTENCE OF TIRE-DERIVED MICROPLASTICS AT INTERSECTIONS
2023 Volume 79 Issue 25 Article ID: 23-25050
Details
2023 Volume 79 Issue 25 Article ID: 23-25050
Recently, pollution of the aquatic environment by microplastics (MPs), which are defined as plastic particles of 5 mm or less in diameter, has been reported. Since tire-derived MPs account for 28% of primary MPs, understanding the occurrence of tirederived MPs will contribute to reducing the discharge of MPs into the ocean. In this study, road dust was sampled at two locations, one at Kotta in Tama City, and another at Kameido, and tire dust-derived MPs were identified using FTIR. Sampling was conducted at two points in a straight road section at Kotta, and at four points within an intersection and two points in a straight road section in Kameido. A comparison of the MPs at both straight section showed that more MPs were obtained at Kotta, where traffic volume was larger. Moreover, the number of MPs was more than twice within the intersection compared with straight section. This result will suggest that the number of MPs may increase at points where vehicles pass from various directions or where curves occur.
