Check back here as the study progresses and we will include information about the study lakes from both our own annual sampling and our citizen scientist partners.

Got Plastic? A Microplastics Study Takes Place on White Iron Lake

Microplastics….you hear about them, but are they really a problem in Minnesota lakes? One University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) research team is trying to find out.

Dr. Kathryn Schreiner, the lead researcher on a Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources (LCCMR) funded project, is looking at the amount and type of microplastics found in fish stomachs in several lakes in Minnesota, and White Iron Lake is one of them.

“We found microplastics in western Lake Superior,” Dr. Schreiner states, “so I am curious to learn if our inland lakes also contain microplastics.”

The study began in the summer of 2019 and will conclude in 2021. Last summer, UMD researchers and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MNDNR) collected fish, water, and sediment samples from four of the lakes in the Sentinel Lakes Program.

The project also has education and community (citizen) science components to it, which are being coordinated by Minnesota Sea Grant.

“Involving Minnesota community members in science is an incredibly important piece of the whole process,” states Marte Kitson, Extension Educator at Minnesota Sea Grant. “Scientific endeavors are often enhanced with community input and assistance.”

Microplastics - What Are They and What Can You Do About Them?

Microplastics are plastic particles that are smaller than 5 millimeters or about 1/20th of an inch in size.¹ In western Lake Superior, the most abundant kinds of microplastic are synthetic microfibers.² Throughout the river systems in the Great Lakes basin, microfibers comprise about 70% of the microplastics and come from common items such as synthetic clothes and textiles, diapers, wipes, tampons, and cigarette butts.³

When larger plastics are exposed to ultraviolet light, wind, and abrasion, they break down and form microplastics, but they do not biodegrade. Plastic bags, bottles, and plastic wrap contain polyethylene. Food containers, bottle caps, candy- and chip-wrappers, and food containers contain polypropylene. Polyethylene and polypropylene are the second and third most abundant plastics found in the western arm of Lake Superior.

Microbeads, another type of microplastic, start out small and were once found in products such as toothpaste, facial scrubs, sunscreen, and other personal care items. However, the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015 banned the sale of cosmetics that contain microbeads beginning in 2018.

Microplastics affect us and other living beings. They are found in freshwater drinking supplies and products made with these supplies, most notably, beer, here in the Great Lakes region.⁴ Aquatic life and birds can mistake microplastics for food. They can suffer from intestinal blockage that creates a false sense of satiation and may result in starvation and death. Plastic also absorbs toxins, like PCBs, mercury and pesticides.

There are many efforts underway to limit the use of plastic. Here are five steps you can take to limit the amount of microplastics in the environment.*

1. Reduce - Limit your own plastic waste.

2. Reuse - Bring your own shopping bags.

3. Refuse - Say, “No thank you,” when offered a plastic straw.

4. Remove - Pick up trash from your neighborhood.

5. Recycle - Recycle plastics you no longer need.

*These steps were adopted from the Earth Day Network.

Sources

¹NOAA. What are Microplastics? National Ocean Service website ,https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/microplastics.html Accessed 10/21/2019.

²Hendrickson, E.; E. Minor, and K. Schreiner. 2018. Microplastic Abundance and Composition in Western Lake Superior as Determined via Microscopy, Pyr-GC/MS, and FTIR. Environmental Science & Technology 2018 52 (4), 1787-1796. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b05829

³USGS. Microplastics in Our Nation’s Waterways. https://owi.usgs.gov/vizlab/microplastics/. Accessed 10/21/2019.

⁴Kremer, R. 2018. Minnesota Researchers Find Microplastics In Beer Made With Great Lakes Water. Wisconsin Public Radio. Online access: https://www.wpr.org/minnesota-researchers-find-microplastics-beer-made-great-lakes-water Published 5/10/2018.