Microplastics monitoring

The NSW Government is undertaking a Broadscale Microplastic Assessment (BMA) of 120 estuaries to provide a baseline dataset for surface water microplastic contamination.

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Nadgee River, NSW Photo DCCEEW Sam Lynch. close Close description

The aim of this study is to:

• Highlight estuaries with the highest microplastic contamination levels
• Determine what items are contributing the most to microplastic contamination for NSW.

The NSW Marine Debris Threat and Risk Assessment identified microplastics as a high-priority threat item. Identifying microplastic items such as plastic resin pellets and polystyrene provides critical information to support evidence-based litter prevention programs and the NSW Plastics Action Plan. This gives us a better understanding of the source of microplastics to then prioritise management interventions and reduce the impacts. This data will identify estuaries and catchments to prioritise management efforts and will be used in the future for assessing management effectiveness.

How the research supports programs

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Microplastic sample from the Parramatta River, Photo DCCEEW Sam Lynch. close Close description

The BMA project identifies catchments where plastic feedstock (also known as nurdles) are present and guides other programs such as Operation Clean Sweep NSW (OCS). Data from OCS is used to help identify plastic feedstock sources further upstream to implement interventions for where plastic resin is leaking into the environment.

About the project

The study is undertaken by the Coastal and Marine Science team in the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW). To fill knowledge gaps around microplastics in NSW, the rapid microplastic assessment method was developed as part of the Marine Estate Management Strategy (MEMS). This method has been adopted for the BMA project, which is funded by the EPA.

The project has 3 major outputs:

• A state-wide baseline microplastic data set – which measures the microplastic density in 120 estuaries.
• Microplastic Pollution Grades – which are developed by comparatively assessing the microplastic density across NSW estuaries and rating them high, medium or low based on the number of microplastics.
• Microplastic identification – using the state-wide data set we are identifying each microplastic polymer type. This will enable government to prioritise those estuaries and microplastic types to be targeted for management and intervention.