Inflow possibility of microplastics to sewage treatment facilities through sewerage

Abstract

Microplastics have in many colors and exist in many forms such as granules, fibers, fragments, films, and so on. In addition, microplastics have various materials such as PE (polyethylene), PP (polypropylene), PS (polystyrene), PVC (polyvinyl chloride), SBR (styrene butadiene rubber), and so on. Among these, SBR is a polymer mainly contained in tires. Some countries reported that SBR is the most emission of microplastics released to the environment. In this study, the microplastics existed in gutters were identified and the possibility of inflow to the sewage treatment facilities were confirmed.
The sampling sites selected were gutters located in the sides of pavement where the traffic of vehicles was seemed to be high in M city. Tire fragments accounted for more than about 60% of microplastics in the gutters. As a result of this study, it is considered that the microplastics existed on the sides of pavement flows into the sewerage by rainwater.