Helen Wong first learned about microplastics during her Plastics and the Ocean lecture delivered by Anna Hippman at Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Environment. Curious about the tiny contaminants that might be polluting her community, Wong used Ocean Diagnostics’ Microplastics Community Science Toolkit to study five Lower Mainland beaches for her undergraduate honours thesis.
“You always hear about the Great Garbage Patch and big litter in the Ocean, but I was curious to know how much washes up on shore and what we don’t see with the naked eye. What’s a macro-plastic now will become a microplastic later,” shares Wong.
“A lot of microplastic research in the Lower Mainland is based in the water. To do that, you need a boat. There haven’t really been any studies done on the beaches,” describes Hippman who supervised the study.
Designed to empower the public to tackle microplastic pollution in their local communities while helping to fill global data gaps, the Toolkit includes learning resources, tools, technology, instructions and training videos to collect and analyze real microplastics data that can be used to find sources and engage decision makers in solutions. Following a standardized protocol ensures data consistency and reliability so that anyone around the world can do a study.
Excited for the rare opportunity to conduct real field research during an undergraduate degree, Wong exclaims, “(Using the Toolkit), you get to go out and see the world and apply what you learn!”
In late 2023, Wong completed 25 surveys on 5 beaches along the Burrard Inlet: Kitsilano Beach, Jericho Beach, Hadden Park and Sunset Beach, which all border English Bay in Vancouver, and Barnet Marine Park in the Port Moody arm.
“The methodology and collecting the field samples was easy,” she reveals.
She then analyzed the data using a first-of-its-kind automated imaging system called Saturna which rapidly provided 13 datasets for all 1,147 particles collected. The size, shape, colour and abundance data provided can help to understand how the microplastics affect the environment. Without Saturna, researchers typically get this information by hand using rulers, calipers and magnifying glasses.
“There is a lot of plastic and to count it by hand would take a thousand years,” laughs Wong. “Saturna helped me to figure out the sizes and to count them. Without it, I couldn't have done it,” she continues.
Hippman chimes in, “Having Saturna to take the images and spit out the data definitely helped a lot. It ensures quality control, that there is less human error involved, and to have as much information about the particles as possible. Having images stored and your data already curated and put in a (categorized) format was really helpful.”
The data was also uploaded to the online global database and heatmap called Mariana. “Because it’s connected to Google, you can see what it looks like in real life, it’s a good reminder of where you’ve been and add notes so you can remember the features of the beach,” describes Wong.
Her study uncovered that polystyrene is the most common microplastic type in the area and likely sourced from disintegrating aquaculture and boating floatation devices like docks and buoys, along other products like take-out containers, shipping and packaging. Surprisingly, no films and only some fragments were found. These findings are similar to another community-based microplastics study along the Salish Sea.
For added validation, Wong sent a subset of 55 particles to ODI’s microplastics analytical laboratory where cutting-edge Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy was applied to confirm whether the polymer type was indeed polystyrene.
“Plastic, especially polystyrene, is very light weight and easily crumbles so it’s super widespread. It’s persistent in the environment and gets smaller and smaller which impacts birds and animals,” explains Wong.
She continues, “Even though many Styrofoam products have been banned in most of the Lower Mainland, it’s still here and persistent. We have to understand that our habits have an impact, whether you use reusable products or say no to using them.”
The majority of all microplastics were found in Barnet Beach which lies much farther in the Inlet than the other surveyed beaches. “I was surprised! I wasn’t expecting Barnet to be so polluted,” discloses Wong
“Plastic pollution is everywhere, even though we are in an environmentally conscious area. There is so much polystyrene that is most likely coming from aquaculture and marinas,” interprets Hippman.
Following the study, Wong led an outreach event at Kitsilano beach to engage the public and fellow SFU students in microplastics sampling. “Other students were able to do field sampling and inspire first year students to get involved, too,” she says.
Hippman adds, “It is really nice to have a methodology that is used for outreach or research that everyone uses the same so that you can compare (the data). It’s easy and straightforward, so everybody who did it on the beach at the outreach event knew how to do it.”
Adding new beach data to existing water studies helps to paint a clearer picture of area pollution while helping to uncover the most polluted beaches and where the pollution is coming from. These community or citizen science studies are important to help identify hotspots and engage the community in the problem and solutions that help to prevent more pollution at the source.
“(The Toolkit) is fantastic for teaching and outreach and to look at baseline data,” Hippman expresses. She continues, “In the classroom, Saturna is an awesome mix between using a real research tool, hands-on experience and using photos for outreach. Being part of discovering something new and adding data is exciting for many students, and having the visual on how much plastic is hidden in every square meter of beach they are sampling can be eye-opening.”
Want to introduce the Microplastics Community Science Toolkit to your project? Don't have access to a sandy beach? Explore the different Toolkit options!