Starting in September, the Santa Cruz City Council, through the University of La Laguna, will carry out a study, fully financed by the Fundación Santa Cruz Sostenible, to determine, for the first time, whether there is a presence of microplastics in soils and groundwater from the Anaga Rural Park.
The mayor of Santa Cruz, José Manuel Bermúdez, stressed that it is essential to “know the state of the natural environment that surrounds us in order to implement the necessary corrective measures” and recalled that in the fight against pollution “it is essential to With the involvement of all citizens and administrations, Santa Cruz and its inhabitants are making an effort in terms of recycling, incorporating new less polluting energy sources and sustainable mobility, in a transformation process that must be accompanied by data such as which this study will contribute once it is concluded”.
The data obtained will make it possible to assess the degree of involvement by microplastics in the park in soils in areas of natural vegetation, agricultural areas and areas linked to population centers, as well as the possible transfer of microplastics to groundwater. A study that will also establish the bases for future research on the effects of microplastics on different ecosystem processes, as well as the degree and type of potential actions to be carried out.
The study will be carried out by the research group in Applied Analytical Chemistry (AChem) of the University of La Laguna, coordinated by the Professor of Analytical Chemistry Javier Hernández Borges, who has extensive experience in the determination of microplastics in the environment. environment of the Canary Islands, including soils and waters.
The researchers hope to find, above all, synthetic fibers, the most common type of microplastic in the environment.
These fibers are filiform fragments of plastic (mainly polyester, nylon, acrylates or other synthetic materials), with a length of between 5 mm and 10 mm, and a width of at least 1.5 orders of magnitude less, although the most of these have lengths less than 1 mm. They come mainly from synthetic tissues and can reach remote places via the atmosphere and be located in soils by wet or dry deposition, as well as by anthropogenic activities.
