Abstract

Due to their versatility and affordability, plastics have become widely used in packaging and various other sectors, significantly increasing plastic waste generation. Environmental concerns arise as plastics degrade into microplastics; particles smaller than 5 mm when exposed to the environment. Despite increased research on plastic pollution, there are many information gaps worldwide, particularly in Venezuela. Additionally, there is a lack of chemical characterization of these pollutants. This study aims to reduce the information gap by characterizing plastic particles collected on an urban beach in Sucre state, Venezuela. In February 2021, thirty sediment samples of two sectors were collected from San Luis Beach in Cumaná for examining the plastic particle content. Density separation using a 5 mol/L NaCl solution was employed to extract particles, which were subsequently categorized by size, shape, and color. Furthermore, FTIR analysis and photographs with a digital optical microscope of selected particles were conducted. A total of 485 items in Sector A and 251 items in Sector B were recovered from the sediments, with fragments being the predominant shape and blue and green as the dominant colors. These analyses allowed for the identification of poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) and polyester, as well as the presence of moisture, adsorption of other contaminants, and the presence of pigments on the particles.