Distribution of small plastic debris in cross-section and high strandline on Heungnam beach, South Korea

Hong Kong at the Pearl River Estuary: A hotspot of microplastic pollution

“…The sampling method also varied from one study to another, and these discrepancies highlight the importance of size and sampling procedure standardisation, which would allow comparisons across regions. Microplastics were more abundant than large plastics on beaches (Hypothesis 1), which was expected because this situation is common in other regions, including South Korea (Heo et al, 2013), Brazil (Ivar do Sul et al, 2009, India (Jayasiri et al, 2013) and Portugal (Martins and Sobral, 2011). However, the relative abundance of the three groups of microplastics was different from the other compared regions except for that of Heungnam Beach, South Korea.…”

“…However, the relative abundance of the three groups of microplastics was different from the other compared regions except for that of Heungnam Beach, South Korea. Although fragments accounted for approximately 96.7% of the microplastics in Boa Viagem, Brazil (Costa et al, 2010) and 87% in the Hawaiian archipelago (McDermid and McMullen, 2004), 92% and 90.7% of the microplastics in Hong Kong and Heungnam Beach in South Korea (Heo et al, 2013), respectively, were EPS. The EPS spherules stranded on the Korean beach were believed to have originated from floating buoys that had fragmented (Heo et al, 2013).…”

“…Although fragments accounted for approximately 96.7% of the microplastics in Boa Viagem, Brazil (Costa et al, 2010) and 87% in the Hawaiian archipelago (McDermid and McMullen, 2004), 92% and 90.7% of the microplastics in Hong Kong and Heungnam Beach in South Korea (Heo et al, 2013), respectively, were EPS. The EPS spherules stranded on the Korean beach were believed to have originated from floating buoys that had fragmented (Heo et al, 2013). In the case of Hong Kong, the dominance of EPS microplastics was not surprising because EPS is widely used in insulated boxes for the transport of fresh food and take-away food in southern China and Hong Kong.…”

“…Because the amount of microplastics on the same beach or between beaches just 2 km apart (McDermid and McMullen, 2004) can differ by up to 3 orders of magnitude (Heo et al, 2013), the authors employed non-parametric estimators, such as the median and median absolute deviation (MAD), to report abundance in the case of large inter-or intra-beach variability. Consequently, all analyses in this study employed both parametric (mean ± SD) and non-parametric estimators (median ± MAD).…”

Occurrence and Distribution of Microplastics in the Sea Surface Microlayer in Jinhae Bay, South Korea

“…The EPS microplastics might have originated from the EPS floats used in the huge nearby oyster hanging-culture farms. The exceptionally high EPS abundance on sand beaches in Heungnam of Geoje was known to be originated from EPS floats used for aquaculture (Heo et al 2013). Furthermore, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) used as a flame retardant in EPS floats were leached out and contaminated bottom sediment surrounding the aquaculture farms (Al-Odaini et al 2015).…”