Environmental risk assessment of plastic waste from riverside traditional markets at Tra Vinh Province, Vietnam

Abstract

Abstract Traditional markets in Mekong Delta are usually located close to waterways such as rivers, streams, or channels. Although market’s waste is collected daily, a significant volume of them, including plastic waste was dumped to surrounding aquatic environments. In this study, a total of 20 composite solid waste samples from 10 riverside markets in coastal districts of Tra Vinh Province, were collected. In the laboratory, after the determination of the physical composition of market waste samples, the plastic waste was classified into seven common types including PET, HDPE, LDPE, PVC, PP, PS, and others. Then, five markets with the highest solid waste generation were selected to collect one sediment and three water samples along the beside waterways to analyse bisphenol A (BPA) contents. The results showed that plastic amount in solid waste samples inside markets ranged from 23.3% to 36.7%, while those along the waterways presented 26.7% to 43.3%. The highest amount of plastic type was PET, followed by PP, LDPE, PS, HDPE, and PVC. The highest BPA contents in both water and sediment samples right in front of the riverside market gates suggested the high risk for aquatic environment around the markets.