INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY, ISLAMABAD

Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences

Department of Environmental Sciences

Dated: ______________

We hereby certified that we have evaluated the project report titled “Assessment of the presence
of Micro-Plastics in sediments along the different water streams in International Islamic
University, Islamabad” submitted by Ameer Hamza (1188-FBAS/BSES/S18), Muhammad
Ashraf (1182-FBAS/BSES/S18) and Muhammad Faizan (1179-FBAS/BSES/S18) and found
the project and it’s report of sufficient standard to warrant its acceptance to complete the course of
studies of Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Science from the International Islamic University,
Islamabad.

COMMITTEE
Supervisor
Dr. Muhammad Asad Ghufran
Associate Professor ____________________
Departmental of Environmental Science

Internal Evaluator 1:
Dr. Muhammad Ibrar Shinwari
Associate Professor ____________________
Departmental of Environmental Science

Internal Evaluator 2:
Dr. Zafeer Saqib
Assistant Professor ____________________
Departmental of Environmental Science

In-charge, Department of Environmental Science

Dr. Islam-ud-Din
Assistant Professor ____________________
International Islamic University, Islamabad
 Declaration
We hereby declare that the work presented in this report is our own effort except where otherwise
acknowledgement and that the report is our own composition. No part of this project has been
previously presented for any other degree.

Date: ____________________

Ameer Hamza
1188-FBAS/BSES/S18 __________________________

Muhammad Ashraf
1182-FBAS/BSES/S18 __________________________

Muhammad Faizan
1179-FBAS/BSES/S18 __________________________
Assessment of the presence of Micro-Plastics in sediments along the
different water streams in International Islamic University,
Islamabad

Supervised by

Dr. Asad Ghufran

Associate professor

Submitted by

Ameer Hamza
1188-FBAS/BSES/S18

Muhammad Ashraf
1182/FBAS/BSES/S18

Muhammad Faizan
1179- FBAS/BSES/S18

INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD

Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences
Department of Environmental Sciences
2021
 Contents

Acknowledgment .......................................................................................................................................... i
List of figures ............................................................................................................................................... ii
List of tables................................................................................................................................................ iii
Abstract....................................................................................................................................................... iv
Chapter 1.0: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1
1.1 Primary micro-plastics: .................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Secondary micro-plastics: ................................................................................................................ 2
1.3 Objective: ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Chapter 2.0 Literature Review .................................................................................................. 4
Chapter 3.0 Material and Procedures ....................................................................................... 6
3.1 Study Area ......................................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Instruments need for the collection of samples .............................................................................. 8
3.3 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) ............................................................................................ 8
3.4 Procedure: ......................................................................................................................................... 8
3.5 Health and safety............................................................................................................................... 8
Chapter 4.0 Methodology .......................................................................................................... 9
4.1 Basic Safety rules: ............................................................................................................................. 9
4.2 Density separation: ........................................................................................................................... 9
4.3 Degrade the Organic matters ......................................................................................................... 12
Chapter 4.4 Quality control and Quality assurance .................................................................. 13
Chapter 5.0 Results and Discussion ........................................................................................ 14
Chapter 6.0 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 14
References .................................................................................................................................................. 15
 Acknowledgment
We are so thankful to Allah Almighty Who gives us the ability to perform and complete our
project. And thanks to our parents for the prayers and support both spiritually and financially. We
would like to thank our supervisor Dr. Asad Ghufraan, for his guidance throughout the project, as
well as his motivation and encouragement to make it possible for us to complete within the given
time. We are thanks to the head of the Department of Environmental Science Dr. Islam-ud-Deed
for the permission to use his lab and instruments for our lab work and analysis. We are very grateful
to Dr, Syeda Aaliya and Dr. Waqar-Un-Nisa from SA-Center for Interdisciplinary Research in
Basic Sciences (SA-CIRBS), FBAS, International Islamic University, Islamabad. Because of you
both, it is possible for us to complete our Final Year Project by performing FT-IR spectroscopy.

Thanks to our professors who accompany us and are always there when we need them. Last but
not least thanks to all my friends both inside and outside of the campus of International Islamic
University, Islamabad.

i
 List of figures
Figure 1 : Map of sampling site ...................................................................................................... 7
Figure 2 sampling site (Collection of samples) ............................................................................. 9
Figure 3 Lap work density separation ........................................................................................... 10
Figure 4 Lap work, degradation of organic matters ...................................................................... 11
Figure 5 FTIR result for S-1 (spectrum) ....................................................................................... 14
Figure 6 FTIR result for S-2 FTIR result (spectrum) ................................................................... 16

ii
 List of tables
Table 1 quantity and presence of micro-plastic at various locations of the world ........................................ 6
Table 2 Quantity of samples and the chemicals used ................................................................................. 12
Table 3 Functional groups present in sample S-1 ....................................................................................... 15
Table 4 result of the sample S-1 ................................................................................................................. 15
Table 5 Functional groups present in sample S- ......................................................................................... 16
Table 6 result of the sample S-2.................................................................................................................. 17

iii
Abstract

Plastic wastes are considered to be a major threat in both urban and rural areas having a high
population. The urban areas are on the thread line, because of their overuse of plastic products.
This study is to investigate the presence of Micro-Plastic in the sediments along the different water
streams International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan. Micro-plastic is an emerging issue
in the current era. Most of the researchers focus their study on micro-plastics in the marine
sediments and marine water. There was a large number of studies conducted in lakes, rivers, and
marine. But our objective is to know the presence of micro-plastics in the sediments in inner the
city’s water streams with various methods. Two sampling sites were selected to collect the
sediment samples. Micro-Plastics were extracted from the sediment by the process of Density
separation. Miro-Fourier Transform-infrared (μ-FTIR) analysis was used to identify the polymer
type of the micro-plastics, which included polyethylene, polypropylene, polyesters, polyethylene
terephthalate, and polyvinyl chloride because of the appearance of peaks of these polymers. This
result also shows that the water stream that comes from the populated area of area of Islamabad
which include both residential and commercial area.

iv
Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 1.0: Introduction

Plastics are synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as the main ingredient.
Their physical properties like lightweight, durable, flexible, and low cost to produce, make it
available and used worldwide. These plastics are the one of the main components of the Municipal
solid waste. Plastics are degraded into smaller pieces when they are degraded. These degraded
pieces of plastics are classified into various categorizes according to their sizes as Micro-plastics
and Nano-plastics. According to the oxford dictionary, micro-plastics are the extremely small
pieces of plastic debris in the environment resulting from the disposal and breakdown of consumer
products and industrial waste (Anderson, 2016). However, these plastic pieces are in the size of
less than 5mm in length (Betts, 2008). Chemically they are composed of carbon and hydrogen
atoms in the form of polymer chains. As well as phthalates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers
(PBDEs), and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) are also present. According to Professor Richard
Thompson OBE and his team showed that the micro-plastics are present in the environment since
the 1960s along with the industrial revolution, but the first time it is reported on the surface of the
water was in the early 1970s. While the first micro-plastic in the sediment was reported in 2004
(Thompson, 2004).

The overuse and mismanagement of plastic waste such as lack of recycling plants, no
proper landfill sites are the main causes of the plastic and micro-plastics to contaminate our
environment.

Micro-plastics are categorized into two main types with respect to their source, primary micro-
plastic and secondary micro-plastic (Irfan, 2020).

1.1 Primary micro-plastics:

These particles are designed for the purpose of commercial uses such as the plastic pellets
or nurdles are used in industrial manufacturing, microbeads are used in personal care products
such as in cosmetics, and the fibers that are used in the synthesis of textiles e.g. fabrics, ropes and
stings, etc.

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Chapter 1 Introduction

1.2 Secondary micro-plastics:

These are the particles that are formed due to the breakdown of larger plastic products such
as polyethylene begs, plastic bottles (PET), plastic containers and luggage. These are caused by
wind abrasion, weathering and due to the exposure of UV of sunlight.

These micro-plastics are entering in the environment through various ways such as from the
washing off personal care product and other household items that flow into the water channels.
Spilled from the processes of manufacturing and transportation, as well as during the abrasion,
washing of clothes, made of synthetic fiber, and wind carry the plastics from one place to another.
Due to the random movement of plastic from various location they abraded with various objects
then scattered in the environment. Another way is to the disintegration of polythene begs, tires, e-
waste, vehicle seat coverings, etc. After reaching into the natural environment, they contaminate
the soil, water bodies, and air. Alternatively, they caused various environmental problems for both
animals and plants. The natural environment consists of the lithosphere, hydrosphere, and
atmosphere. In the lithosphere, we found micro-plastics in both land and water sources near and
away from the residential areas, as well as found in sediments (Tahira Irfan S. K., 2020). The
hydrosphere includes dams, lakes, rivers, water streams, and drainage systems. Micro-plastics are
combined with dust particles and spread into the atmosphere. However, these all collectively
formed a hazardous environment for all organisms living on the surface of Earth. Micro-plastics
have the same properties as macro-plastics have. They are non-biodegradable and remain in the
environment for thousands of years without decompose (Rogers, 2020). However, they are directly
or indirectly affect human health. The most common and direct ways are inhaled micro-plastic
with air particles, ingestion with food, fruit and vegetable. Micro-plastic are the carrier for the
various persistent organic pollutants and there are still no any report recorded that shows the
negative health effect of Micro-plastic itself (Muhammad Irfan A. Q., 2020). In the air, they are
formed with dust and particulate matter, in fruits and vegetables they are absorbed within
themselves from the atmosphere or from the soil. Wastewater is used for irrigation to root
vegetables without proper treatment cause of the attachment of micro-plastics with the root
vegetables which include ginger, beets, and garlic along with many other types of vegetables (Rico,
2021). Used of such vegetables cause a health issues in human body due to the contamination of
micro-plastics. On the other hand fishes, shrimp and other aquatic lives are in endangered zone
because of the highly polluted water. The intake of these seafood indirectly ingest micro-plastics
Assessment of the presence of Micro-Plastic in 2
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Chapter 1 Introduction

into human body. There are a lot of studies about the presence, distribution and the effect of micro-
plastic in marine ecosystems, but in Pakistan there is not as much work on the plastic at micro
level. However, there are lack of information about the contamination of micro-plastic in water
stream, lacks, rivers and dams.

1.3 Objective:
In this project we are going to do an assessment on:

 Presence of micro-plastic in the sediments along the different water streams in International
Islamic University, Islamabad.
 Common techniques for extracting micro-plastic from the sediments

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

Chapter 2.0 Literature Review

Micro-plastics are now one of the major component of the global solid waste and currently
a serious problem to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The presence and distribution of micro-
plastics were studied in detail for marine ecosystems, and freshwater systems worldwide (Tahira
Irfan S. K., Plastic driven pollution in Pakistan: the first evidence, 2020). But there are limited
information available about the micro-plastic contamination in rivers and lakes because of the lack
of researched in this field. However, the micro-plastics are ingested by both humans and animals
directly or indirectly. Micro-plastics work as the carrier for other persistent organic pollutants
(POPs). They transported the particulate maters into the body from the environment.

Dr. Maria Neira, Director Department of Public Health, Environment and Social
Determinants of Health, at WHO stated that based the information they have, micro-plastic in
drinking water don’t appear to cause a health risk at the present state (Neira, 2019). But it may
cause a significant impacts in coming days, because the plastic waste is everywhere around the
globe. The main source of micro-plastic is the plastic waste.

Professor Thompson a researcher at the Plymouth University was the first person to show the
presence of micro-plastic in the environment. Between 2001 -2002 Dr. Thompson and his team
which comprise of his colleagues at the University of Plymouth established that the sub-millimeter
(micro meter) sized fragments of plastics that were widespread in sediments and in the north east
Atlantic. After the study of about one year finally he published his paper in the journal Science, in
which he described the findings and use the word “micro-plastic” first time in 2004 (University,
2014).

Several studies were found previously, regarding the distribution, concentration, and abundance
of micro-plastics in the water bodies. China’s river, Yangtze River in Chongping City (Jianxin
Fan, 2021), Sediments of the Kiel Fjord Western Baltic Sea (Kevin Schröder, 2021), Urban surface
water syster of Lahore Pakistan (Muhammad Irfan A. Q., 2020) and first everdence of
envitronmental exposure to micro-plastic in sedimments and water of Rawal lack Islamabad
Pakistan (Tahihra Irfan, 2020)

In Pakistan a group of researchers work on the presence of micro-plastic in the water and sediments
of Rawal Lake, Islamabad. They took various samples from both outlet of the lake and from the

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

inner side of the lake as well as they collect some sample of sediments. After the FT-IR analysis
they formed a result that the sediment have the greater concentration of micro-plastic as compared
to the water of Rawal Lake (Tahira Irfan S. M., 17 February 2020).

While another group tried to assess the presence of micro-plastic in the sediment and water surface
in the city, Lahore. Their results shows that the size of micro-plastics 300µm to 5mm were found.
The result also proved that the sediments have more number of micro-plastics as compare the
surface water (Ahmad, 2020).

The presence of micro-plastics have been studied in various parts of the world and found a large
number of micro-plastics. Some of the result of the presence of micro-plastic in sediments of
different lakes were recorded in the following table (table 1)

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Chapter 2 Literature Review

Table 1 quantity and presence of micro-plastic at various location of the world

S.No. Location Samples MP range/average Polymer Shape

type types
1 UK urban Lake Sediments 25-30 particles in 100g N/A Film and fibers
of dry sediments
2 Lake Bolsena sediments 112-234 particles/kg N/A Fiber and
and Lake Chuisi, dry weight of sediments fragments
Central Italy
3 Laurentian Great sediments 0-0.4463 items/m3 PE, PP Microbeads,
Lake, North Pellets, fragments
America of foam, fivers and
films
4 Lake Ontorio, Sediments 6331 micro plastic PE,PS,PVC Fibers, fragments,
Canada particles PET, epoxy and microbeads
resin etc
5 Remote Lakes, Sediments 8 ± 14 to 563 ± 1219 PP, PE, PVC Sheets, lines, foam,
Tibet items/m2 PET and fragments
6 Poyang Lake, sediments 54-506 items/m2 PP and PE Fibers, pellets and
China fragments

1 (Rebecca Vaughan, 2017)) 2) (Fischer, 2016) 3, 4, 5, 6) (Sofia Khalid, 2020)

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Chapter 3 Methodology

Chapter 3.0 Material and Procedures

3.1 Study Area
Samples of Sediment have been collected from various locations along the water streams of sector
H-10 Islamabad. These water streams are full of water during the rainy days while on normal days
the water level is mostly low. Samples were collected from the sediments near the surface of the
water. The sampling was carried out after visualizing the study through Google Maps. The samples
were collected on 29th November, 2021 during daytime.

Sample (S-1) and (S-2) were collected from the sediment along the side of the water stream
entering into sector H-10, from sector H-11 and G-10. These two streams merge together in the
sector H-10, in the premises of International Islamic University, Islamabad (IIUI).

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Chapter 3 Methodology

Figure 1 : Map of sampling site

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Chapter 3 Methodology

3.2 Instruments need for the collection of samples

 Trowel
 Inches tape
 Sample jar with labelled
 Camera

3.3 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

 Face mask
 Gloves
 Long neck shoes

3.4 Procedure:
1. Pre-wash the sampling jars and dry before go into the sampling site.
2. Label the jars with sampling number (sample 1, and sample 2)
3. Wear the PPEs (mask and gloves).
4. Place the quadrat of 12 sq. inches.
5. Remove the upper layer of the sediment about 1 to 2 inches.
6. Open the lids of the sample jar 1.
7. Transfer the sediments into the jar with help of trowel.
8. Collect an appropriate quantity of sediments.
9. Closed the led and clean the trowel and wrapped the trowel into a wrapping sheet.

The same procedure was repeat for all the samples.

3.5 Health and safety

When sampling the sediment from waterbodies or along the site of waterbodies, physical hazard
must be identified and appropriate precautions must be taken to ensure the safety of the sampling
team. The team members who are taking the samples should not go too close the waterbody in
case of the imbalance there is a chance to slip into the water or fall down on the site. Must be check
the place that is not be a slippery. The sampling areas are highly smelled so use a high quality of
mask to minimize the odour. Because of the highly contaminated water the odour was the big
challenge for the collection of sediments. Select the points for sampling that should reachable

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Chapter 3 Methodology

easily, the water streams flowing from various areas. Most of the places are dangerous because of
their depth and odour. It is also important to keep avoid skin contact with the sediments during
collection of samples.

Figure 2 sampling site (Collection of samples)

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Chapter 4 Methodology

Chapter 4.0 Methodology

The next part is to separate micro-plastic from the sediment, this process is known as
density separation. Separate the micro-plastics from the sediment by their differences in density. For this
purpose it is necessary to use a solution that must be denser as compared to micro-plastic. There are various
step and method for separation of micro-plastic from sediments. Cesium Chloride (CsCl), Zinc Chloride
(ZnCl) or Sodium Polytungstate are the chemicals that are denser. However, for the sample that we are
going to treat is saturated Sodium Chloride (NaCl) (Khalid, 2020).

4.1 Basic Safety rules:

Whenever work in a particular lab it is necessary to keep in mind the safety measures. There are various
rules and measures that must be insure to fulfill. There are some basic rules bellow;

 Approval of work in lab from the in-charge of the laboratory.

 Need to know the emergency exit in case of emergency
 Work on the allotted station.
 Prohibit eye and skin contact from the chemicals and sample
 Wear face and gloves before start work.
 Use the equipment for their respective purpose only.
 Avoid to bring food into the lab.
 Don’t taste any chemical into the lab.
 Never leave the container opened (particularly Hydrogen Peroxide)
 Avoid the chemicals from contamination.

4.2 Density separation:

Density separation with a saturated salt solution (NaCl)

Take 100ml of a saturated solution of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) in a 250ml beaker to avoid overspill during
the stirring.

Put 25g of sample into the beaker of Sodium Chloride, and stirred for 1 minute. This helps to release
particles from underneath the sediments. So, all the samples were mixed with the saturated NaCl solution.
After that leave for the settlement of sediment for 10 to 15 minutes. The outlet of the beakers is closed with
aluminum foil to avoid the contamination from the atmosphere. The next step is sieving the supernatant
through the sieve (supernatant is the liquid laying over/above the residue), this sieve has tores of less than

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Chapter 4 Methodology

5mm. This process repeat three times. Used funnel for the transfer of solution during sieving. So, all solution
completely transferred into another beaker, but make sure that the beaker wash with distilled water to
remove any contamination from it. The larger particles size of above 5mm are remained in the sieve.

Figure 3 Lap work density separation

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Chapter 4 Methodology

Figure 4 Lap work, degradation of organic matters

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Chapter 4 Methodology

4.3 Degrade the Organic matters

Remove the organic matters from the sample by degrade with Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) or with
any other concentrated acid. The solution that is collected in the beaker after sieved is treated with (H2O2)
(Taneez2, 2020). Add 10ml hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) with the help of pipette (10cm3) into the beaker
which have the 100ml solution of the sample. The 10cm3 is the 40% of 25g sediment sample. Hydrogen
peroxide (H2O2) is a corrosive chemical that may cause corrosion of skin and anything that may exposed
with it. After the addition of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) stirred for a minute. After stirred cover the beakers
with aluminum foils. Weight the beakers and record the results. After that the beakers are place in the lab
for 24 hours for the degradation of organic matters and settlement of sediments that have the size less than
5mm.

On the next day, beakers are weigh again and record their results. And find out the difference
between their initial and final weights. The samples were filtered with filter paper. Gradually add the
solution into the filter paper in the funnel. Make sure the solutions are added in the center on the filter paper
to avoid the overspills from the upper side of the filter paper. The filter papers are now dried with the residue
that was collected on their surface. Samples were dried at 50 °C for 10 minutes.

Table 2 Quantity of samples and the chemicals used

Samples Sample weight (g) NaCl volume (cm3) H2O2 (cm3)

S-1 25 100 10

S-2 25 100 10

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Chapter 4 Methodology

Chapter 4.4 Quality control and Quality assurance

It is important to control the contamination of chemicals and samples during the laboratory analysis. All
the apparatus were rinsed three times before and after use. First wash with tap water after that rinsed
carefully with distilled water. After taking out the samples from sample jar, closed the led immediately to
prevent any contamination. For the settlement of sediments during density separation and removal of
organic matters, it is important to cover the beakers with Aluminum foil. The dried filters papers were kept
into the petri dish must also be covered with Aluminum foil.

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 Chapter 5 Result and Discussion

Chapter 5.0 Results and Discussion

The final state was the FT-IR Analysis. FT-IR stand for Fourier Transform Infra-Red. FTIR
analysis of the micro-plastics from sediment samples S-1 and S-2 exhibited highly similarity with
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), Polyethylene (PE), Polyesters, and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET).
The results shows by the appearance of characteristic peaks of these polymers. The PE micro-
plastics are come from the disintegration of plastic bags, wrapping foils and washing of plastic
products. PVC is used in plastic pipes, plastic films, plastic cups and water drums. PET used in
manufacturing of plastic bottles and textile industry. The both samples have highly contamination
of micro-plastics that show the water and sediments are polluted by plastic wastes. The appearance
of the peak in Figure 2 and Figure 3 show the above mentioned micro-plastics

Sample S-1 %T
102

100

98

96

94

92

90

88

86

84

82
3514

3352

679

517
4000
3919
3838
3757
3676
3595

3433

3271
3190
3109
3028
2947
2866
2785
2704
2623
2542
2461
2380
2299
2218
2137
2056
1975
1894
1813
1732
1651
1570
1489
1408
1327
1246
1165
1084
1003
922
841
760

598

Figure 5 FTIR result for S-1 (spectrum)

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Chapter 5 Result and Discussion

Table 3 Functional groups present in sample S-1

S.No Wavelength cm-1 Functional groups

1 1424 Vinyl C-H in the plan bend

2 1056 Aliphatic Fluro compound, C-F

3 780-872 Aliphatic chloro compound, C-Cl

4 504-596 Aliphatic Iodo compounds C-I

5 3356 Aliphatic primary amine, NH

7 596 Aliphatic iodo compound C-I

8 1650 Carboxylate (carboxylic acid salt)

9 1615-1680 C=C-

Table 4 result of the sample S-1

Name of the plastic Present/Absence in S-1

Polystyrene Present

Polyethylene Absence

Polyvinyl Chloride Absence

Polyester Absence

Polyethylene terephthalate Present

In S-1, polystyrene, Polyethylene terephthalate and polyvinyl chloride are present as in the sample
the vinyl, carboxylate aromatic ring of C=C- and aliphatic Chloro compounds are present. While
Polyethylene polyester and polyethylene tereterephthalate the matters that are absent.

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Chapter 5 Result and Discussion

Sample S-2 %T
101
100
99
98
97
96
95
94
93
92
91
185

921
1
93

277
369
461
553
645
737
829

1013
1105
1197
1289
1381
1473
1565
1657
1749
1841
1933
2025
2117
2209
2301
2393
2485
2577
2669
2761
2853
2945
3037
3129
3221
3313
3405
3497
Figure 6 FTIR result for S-2 FTIR result (spectrum)

Table 5 Functional groups present in sample S-

S.No Wavelength cm-1 Functional groups

1 3497 Dimeric OH stretch

2 3313 Hydroxy group, H- bounded OH stretch

Aliphatic secondary amine N-H stretch

3 3129 Aromatic C-H

4 2945 Methyl C-H, Methylene

5 2669 Thiols S-H

7 2301-2209 C≡C medial alkyne

8 1013-1105 Aliphatic floro compound, C-F

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 Chapter 5 Result and Discussion

Table 6 result of the sample S-2

Name of the plastic Present/Absence in S-2

Polystyrene Present

Polyvinyl Chloride Present

Polyethylene terephthalate Absence

Polyester Absence

Polyethylene Absence

The FTIR results show that the functional groups are identical with (Irfan, 2020), (Mumtaz, 2020)
and (Fan, 2021) of our sample components’ presence of micro-plastic-based material in our
samples.

The results are found by the interpretation of the FTIR spectrums in which the functional groups
and fingerprints are analyzed in both figure 5 and figure 6.

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Chapter 7 Conclusion

Chapter 6.0 Conclusion

The results of various studies indicate that micro-plastics are present in both the water surface and
in the sediments all around the globe, but the number of micro-plastics are vary at different
locations. Micro-plastics were detected in the sediment along the different water streams in
International Islamic University, Islamabad. Although Micro-plastics contamination causes
significant problems both nationally and internationally. Within Pakistan, various studies were
conducted and they detected Micro-plastics in their samples. The Incidence of Micro-plastics in
these water streams affects the buffaloes that used the water both for drinking and to cool the body
temperature. The streams carry an abundance of plastic waste. However, these plastics are
degraded into small pieces which lead to micro-level.

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References

References
Anderson, J. (2016). Microplastics in aquatic environments: Implications for Canadian ecosystems.
Canadia: Science Direct.
Betts, K. (2008). Why small plastic particles may pose a big problem in the oceans. ACS Publications.
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