2022 LSU Gumbo - Book - Page 133
Baton Rouge has a trash problem.
Researchers from the Mississippi River Cities and Towns
Initiative found in September that the amount of trash
detected along the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge during
a month-long survey would be equivalent to about 61 pieces
of trash if placed along one city block.
Raising Canes and Sonic food wrappings, foam Smoothie
King cups, and plastic cups were among the most common
sources of pollution along the river.
In collaboration with the MRCTI, LSU College of Coast
and Environment professor Mark Benfield is researching
the flow of plastic waste down the Mississippi River into
the Gulf of Mexico using GPS trackers, trash accumulation
data, and testing the water for microplastics.
Microplastics are tiny pieces of plastic. They can range
from the size of a grain of rice to microscopic. This makes
them ingestible to a variety of animals and humans.
Scientists’ understanding of the effects of microplastics
on human health is still developing, but research on the
ecological impacts so far are jarring.
A 2008 study in the journal of Environmental Science
and Technology was one of the first to find that these tiny
pieces of plastic don’t harmlessly pass through the body.
“The high concentration of plastic pollution along the
Mississippi is leading to a number of ecological issues,”
Benfield said.
Microplastics can bind with other pollutants, becoming a
sponge of organic pollutants, which attract microbes giving
the taste and smell of natural food, leading to small marine
life consuming them.
This can disrupt reproductive systems, stunt growth, and
cause liver or tissue damage.
Much of the plastic pollution in Baton Rouge found is
single-use plastics, like water bottles and bags. These larger
plastics can degrade over time and leave microplastics in
the water and air, eventually making their way to the Gulf
of Mexico.
Benfield’s research began in 2015 when he took
measurements of the amount of microplastics in the Gulf of
Mexico.
“We found just tons of microplastics,” Benfield said.
“That part of the coast doesn’t have a high population
density, so the likelihood they were originating from
Louisiana was pretty remote. We realized we were in the
plume of the Mississippi River, and so that was the logical
candidate.”
Benfield published a paper based on this research and
received funding from Louisiana Sea Grant to do a oneyear study looking at microplastics in the Mississippi river
between Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
The results? Very high concentrations of plastics, which
increased the further downriver they went.
“We have to reduce our utilization of plastics,” said
Benfield. “The majority of plastics that we interact with are
used for very transient activities. So, a water bottle that is
gonna last 1,000 years potentially we use for five minutes or
10 minutes.”
Since 2018, MRCTI has been partnered with cities along
the Mississippi River to reduce waste accumulation along
the river. Baton Rouge is one of three cities that are piloting
a new initiative that involves data collection. The other
cities are St. Louis, Missouri and St. Paul, Minnesota.
Baton Rouge Mayor-President, Sharon Weston Broome,
announced in April that Baton Rouge would be one of the
first cities to partner with MRCTI to investigate pollution
flow along the river.
“[Benfield] took me around Baton Rouge and showed
me some canals where booms were set up and all the plastic
that was collecting there,” said Jenny Wendt, Plastic Waste
Reduction Campaign Manager for MRCTI. “I had never
seen anything like it before.”
Using GPS devices inside water bottles, researchers were
able to gauge how trash entered local watersheds.
Community members also participated in collecting
data by standing on the bank of the river and using Debris
Tracker, an online application developed for the MRCTI
initiative by experts with the United Nations Environment
Programme, National Geographic Society and University of
Georgia.
Stormwater surges bring this plastic waste into the areas
around the river too, a problem that led city-parish leaders
to promote a $15-million stormwater division that would
work to manage this issue.
Around LSU, these surges result in plastic waste ending
up in the LSU Campus Lakes.
LSU AgCenter professor Jeff Kuehny, who leads the
Burden Museum and Gardens program, is working with the
coalition to raise awareness. He has placed booms in three
different water systems around Baton Rouge.
These booms act as nets, collecting any plastics that float
into them. By collecting this plastic, he is able to measure
the amount brought in by stormwater.
“This is a problem that can be solved but it’s going to
take everybody working together – public and private
sectors to remediate the litter and the flooding and
especially through stormwater management programs,”
Kuehny said.
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