Microplastics found in Tulpehocken Creek and Blue Marsh

Report finds microplastics are everywhere and they’re not healthy

Polymer fragments smaller than a grain of rice, called microplastics, have been found in water samples from 53 waterways in Pennsylvania including anglers’ beloved Tulpehocken Creek and Blue Marsh Lake, environmental advocates at PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center said in a new report.

Collected from January through June 2020 from waters that in some places seemed clean and clear, the sampling suggests microplastics are ubiquitous in the state.

The samples were tested for four types of plastics: fibers, fragments, films or microbeads. Microplastic is plastic less than 5mm in length. Volunteers used protocols developed in a NOAA partnership. Research was aimed at determining the presence of microplastics in waterways. The results were analyzed at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

People might think of plastic pollution such as shopping bags or polystyrene litter, but PennEnvironment’s report attempted to document that litter alone doesn’t capture the full scope of plastic pollution.

“Research suggests that we could be not counting 99% of the plastic that makes its way into the ocean,” wrote conservation associate Faran Savitz in PennEnvironment’s report. “That’s because plastic doesn’t degrade in the environment like an apple or a piece of paper, instead

it breaks into smaller and smaller pieces of plastic called microplastics.”

A major source is clothing and other textiles, coming from synthetic and hybrid materials like fleece. The microfibers are released when they are washed and make their way to waterways when wastewater treatment plants can’t fully filter them out.

Fragments come from the breakdown of harder plastic or plastic feedstock used in manufacturing. Film mostly comes from bags and flexible plastic packaging.

The good news in the PennEnvironment report may be that microbeads were found in 1.9% of the sites. Microbeads, once found in toothpaste, facial scrubs and cosmetics, have been banned by federal law since 2018. The data suggests a relationship that should be further studied, Savitz said during a press conference on the report.

Samples from Tulpehocken Creek and Blue Marsh had presence of fibers, fragments and films but not microbeads.

The concern with microplastics is that they are severe suffocation and starvation hazards to wildlife. They have been found in the air, food and water.

Microplastics also attract pollutants that may already exist in the environment at trace levels, accumulating toxins like DDT & PCBs and delivering them to the wildlife that eat them, often bioaccumulating through the food chain, said Dr. David Velinsky, vice president of Academy Science at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.

Velinsky said impact of microplastics on humans is not clear and warrants more research.

The report’s findings were announced at a PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center virtual news conference with U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, a Delaware County Democrat, and state Reps. Tim Briggs, a Montgomery County Democrat, and Perry Warren, a Bucks County Democrat. Velinsky and Myrna Newman, the executive director of Allegheny CleanWays also spoke.

Scanlon said the survey would help make a case for change, including the reintroduction of the Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act.

PennEnvironment said that given how widespread the threat of plastic and microplastic pollution is, there is no silver bullet solution to address the problem.

PennEnvironment supports phasing out single-use plastics, repealing the statewide ban on municipal plastic bag laws and enacting “producer responsibility” laws. It opposes policies that promote increased manufacture and use of single-use plastic and fast fashion.

“To fight textile waste, retailers must stop sending overstock, unsold and unused clothing, to landfills and incinerators,” the report said.

A recording of the press conference is available at https://www. facebook.com/PennEnvironment/videos/125624852816906/

A map of the sample locations can be viewed at https:// bit.ly/3eaqDjm

BEN HASTY — MEDIANEWS GROUP A study indicates microplastics have been found in Pennsylvania waterways, including the Tulpehocken Creek in Spring Township.

A plastic water bottle floats half submerged along the bank of the Tulpehocken Creek at Gring’s Mill in Spring Township. A new report documents that litter alone doesn’t capture the full scope of plastic pollution in waterways.

A discarded plastic Gatorade bottle floats half submerged along the bank of the Tulpehocken Creek at Gring’s Mill in Spring Township Thursday afternoon March 4, 2021.

The Tulpehocken Creek churns over the spillway of the dam at Gring’s Mill in Spring Township. A study indicates microplastics have been found in Pennsylvania waterways, including the creek.

The plastic sole of an old shoe is stuck in branches along the bank of the Tulpehocken Creek at Gring’s Mill in Spring Township.