The Pineda beach in Vila-seca (Tarragona) has by far the highest number of microplastics in Catalonia, according to a study led by experts from the University of Barcelona and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili published in the journal Marine Pollution Bulletin . The team has analysed the 580 kilometres of Catalan coastline - from Cap de Creus to Vinaròs - and the data are clear: this beach accumulates up to 2,000 microplastics per kilogram of sand, a figure that is almost double that of the second on the list, a beach in the bay of Fangar, in the Ebro delta, with more than 1,100.
The results were not shocking, what strikes the most is that "the beaches of Barcelona, the most populated city in Catalonia, have lower concentrations of microplastics than other points further south between Castelldefels and Vilanova i la Geltrú or a large part of the coast of Tarragona", says Joaquim Rovira, a researcher at the Department of Basic Medical Sciences and the TecnATox research group at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV).
At the 70 points analysed, samples were collected from the intertidal fringe - more than one sample was taken at the longest beaches -, which is the area of wet sand between the point where the highest wave reaches the water level. The size and chemical composition of the microplastics found were also analysed according to their dimensions: large microplastics, up to 5 millimetres, identifiable to the naked eye, were mainly polyethylene and polypropylene, derived especially from the degradation of everyday objects such as plastic bottles or well-known industrial pellets. Small microplastics, smaller than 0.5 millimetres in size, are mainly found in textile fibres such as polyester and polyamide from laundry.
