Catchment scale assessment of macroplastic pollution in the Odaw river, Ghana
Rose Boahemaa Pinto (Wageningen University & Research)
L. Bogerd (Wageningen University & Research)
Martine van der Ploeg (Wageningen University & Research)
Kwame Duah (Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory)
R Uijlenhoet (TU Delft - Water Resources, Wageningen University & Research)
Tim van Emmerik (Wageningen University & Research)
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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.
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