Abundance and characterization of microplastics on sandy beaches along the coastal area of Belize.

Microplastics (MPs) are a major anthropogenic pollutant around the globe and are of great concern due to the devastating impacts it has on the natural environment including beaches. Quantifying and determining the current status of MPs pollution in beaches around Central America and the Caribbean region is the first step in the identification of mitigation measures to address and reduce this type of pollution. Therefore, this study aims to address this critical knowledge gap by determining the distribution and characterization of MPs along four sandy beaches within the coastal area of Belize. The results show an overall mean MPs concentration of 10.9 ± 2.4 MPs m-2 or 0.7 ± 0.1 MPs kg-1 along the coastal area of Belize. The highest concentration of MPs was observed in the Orchid Bay beach with 21.3 ± 7.1 MPs m-2 or 1.3 ± 0.4 MPs kg-1 of sand and Hopkins beach with 18.1 ± 4.4 MPs m-2 or 1.1 ± 0.43 MPs kg-1 of sand. Whereas, the lowest concentration observed was in Punta Negra and South Sibun beach with 2.1 ± 1.5 MPs m-2 or 0.1 ± 0.1MPs kg-1 of sand respectively. The results obtained in this study will serve as baseline data and will help to support policymakers in developing proactive rather than reactive approaches to address plastic pollution in Belize. In addition, it is strongly recommended to consider the selected sites for long-term monitoring of plastic pollution along the coastal areas of Belize.

• Publication year

  2025

• Venue

  Marine Pollution Bulletin

• Publication date

  2025-11-18

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Environmental Science

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.118999PMID 41260008
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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