Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences
Title : | The plastic pandemic: The fate of weathered-single-used PPE kits and other related products during Covid-19 in the aquatic environments |
Area of research : | Earth, Atmosphere & Environment Sciences |
Principal Investigator : | Dr. Gopala Krishna Darbha, Indian Institute Of Science Education And Research (IISER) Kolkata, West Bengal |
Timeline Start Year : | 2022 |
Timeline End Year : | 2025 |
Contact info : | gkdarbha80@yahoo.com |
Equipments : | Fluorescence spectrophotometer
Accelertaed weathering tester
Auto fraction collector |
Details
Executive Summary : | The COVID-19 pandemic led to a significant increase in single-use products, resulting in a plastic waste boom in the environment. This has led to the generation of microplastics (MPs) in various environments, including water columns, sea beds, and beaches. Rivers are the primary carriers of dumped plastic waste to the oceans, and their disintegration/fragmentation results in the generation of MPs. The current project aims to estimate MPs in major Indian water bodies like Mahanadi river, Chilka lake, and Bay of Bengal to establish a baseline for further investigation. MPs' behavior and mobility are influenced by their interaction with the aquatic environment's inorganics, including rocks and mineral fractions. PPEs will be used to generate MPs at a laboratory scale and weathered to understand their interaction with various mineral substrates. Water and sediments contain a vast range of anthropogenic emerging chemical contaminants, including persistent organic contaminants (POCs), heavy metals, and heavy metals. Understanding the affinity of emerging POCs and heavy metals with PPE-generated MPs is crucial for understanding their potential as vectors for contaminant transport. The final objective is to investigate MPs' bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms like zebrafish and their effect on the toxicity of other co-contaminants. Previous studies have established a strong background, including estimation of MPs from the lower Ganga basin, understanding the retention of toxic metal oxide nanoparticles and PAHs on MPs, and understanding the stability and mobility of plastic particles in the riverine environment. |
Total Budget (INR): | 55,55,000 |
Organizations involved