Catchment scale assessment of macroplastic pollution in the Odaw river, Ghana

Rose Boahemaa Pinto; Linda Bogerd; Martine van der Ploeg; Kwame Duah; Remko Uijlenhoet; Tim H M van Emmerik

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115813

Catchment scale assessment of macroplastic pollution in the Odaw river, Ghana

Mar Pollut Bull. 2024 Jan:198:115813. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115813. Epub 2023 Nov 27.

Authors

Rose Boahemaa Pinto¹, Linda Bogerd², Martine van der Ploeg², Kwame Duah³, Remko Uijlenhoet⁴, Tim H M van Emmerik²

Affiliations

¹ Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands. Electronic address: rose.pinto@wur.nl.
² Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
³ Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO), Accra, Ghana.
⁴ Hydrology and Environmental Hydraulics Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands; Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering & Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands.

PMID: 38016204
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115813

Abstract

Catchment-scale plastic pollution assessments provide insights in its sources, sinks, and pathways. We present an approach to quantify macroplastic transport and density across the Odaw catchment, Ghana. We divided the catchment into the non-urban riverine, urban riverine, and urban tidal zones. Macroplastic transport and density on riverbanks and land were monitored at ten locations in December 2021. The urban riverine zone had the highest transport, and the urban tidal zone had the highest riverbank and land macroplastic density. Water sachets, soft fragments, and foam fragments were the most abundant items. Our approach aims to be transferable to other catchments globally.

Keywords: Catchment; Hotspot; Land; Macroplastic pollution; River; Riverbank.

MeSH terms

Environmental Monitoring*
Environmental Pollution / analysis
Ghana
Rivers*