It’s one of 10 rivers in the world that collectively contribute up to 95 per cent of plastic in the ocean. Running for more than 4,000 kilometres, the Mekong River flows through six countries, starting in China and making its way through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. It is used by millions of people and is home to a rich ecosystem. But now its pollution problem poses an issue for the region and Australia.
While the drones can detect and photograph large pieces of plastic, there are plenty of smaller pieces known as microplastics (usually 5 millimetres or smaller) that can’t be spotted from the air. As a result, the Laos project is also using a Japanese-developed contraption called an Albatross to trap and study how much microplastic is getting into the river. The chief executive of Japanese start-up Pirika, Kojima Fujio, said the Albatross sucked in the microplastics, which were then caught in a net and taken back to the laboratory for analysis.
“Many researchers are trying to find microplastics from rivers, but the common method requires using boats, and that’s sometimes very costly,” Mr Fujio said. “So we decided to reduce the sampling cost and develop the portable device.” Ideally, they will then be able to trace the plastic product and where it was produced, and talk to plastic companies about potential changes to their product design. “It’s a very difficult process, and actually we’ve only succeeded to find 30 per cent of the product categories of microplastic,” he said. Identifying microplastics is still extremely difficult, but Mr Fujio said his team had some success already in Japan.
Source: ABC
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