Airborne microplastics in the roadside and residential areas of Southern Thailand

Abstract

Contaminations of microplastics are found in different environmental media. This study assessed the abundance of outdoor airborne microplastics (AMPs) in the roadside and residential areas of nine districts in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand. The abundance of AMPs ranged from 0.09 to 1.54 (0.80 ± 0.43) particles/m3 in roadside samples and 0.20 to 1.09 (0.62 ± 0.27) particles/m3 in residential samples of the studied areas. The size of AMPs detected in this study ranged from 6 to 4950 μm, and microplastics smaller than 100 μm predominated in every sample. Fragmented and black microplastics made up the majority of the contribution. FTIR analysis indicated the presence of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, epoxy resin, nylon, polyester, polyethylene terephthalate, polymethyl methacrylate, and polyurethane in AMPs. This study is the first identification and quantification of AMPs in Southern Thailand.