article · American Journal of Environment and Climate
Microplastics have become widespread across Nigerian aquatic environments, contaminating rivers, lagoons, estuaries, sediments, and drinking supplies. Particles, notably fibres and fragments composed predominantly of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyester, accumulate heavily around urban drainage sinks and estuarine zones. They are also present in commercially harvested fish and packaged sachet or bottled water, raising concerns regarding organism health and human dietary exposure. Land-based inputs constitute the primary driver of this marine plastic load. Proposed interventions suited to the national context emphasise upstream source reduction, such as curbing single-use plastics and finding alternatives to sachet water. Addressing the problem also requires technological improvements in wastewater and stormwater drainage capture, extended producer responsibility programmes, and standardised national monitoring frameworks alongside dedicated health risk assessments for vulnerable coastal and occupational communities.
Plastic pollution in freshwater and marine ecosystems threatens both wildlife and human health. The presence of microplastics in local drinking water and commercially harvested seafood means communities face chronic exposure risks. Identifying these pathways helps environmental regulators, utilities, and communities prioritise critical interventions, including improved stormwater filtration and packaging reforms, to safeguard public health and critical aquatic resources.
The findings point to opportunities for technology providers and material developers. Specific application areas include trash-capture systems for drainage outfalls, municipal wastewater treatment upgrades, and sustainable packaging alternatives to sachet water. While these technologies exist globally, their deployment and adaptation for Nigerian infrastructure appear to be at an early planning stage, with potential customers including municipal water authorities, waste management operators, and beverage packaging manufacturers seeking to comply with extended producer responsibility mandates.
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Microplastics, MPs (< 5mm) are ubiquitous plastic contaminants in freshwater and marine environments. MPs have been increasingly documented across Nigerian aquatic systems, including rivers, lagoons, estuaries, sediments, seafood, and drinking waters. They arise from multiple primary and secondary sources, undergo complex transport and transformation pathways, and affect organisms across trophic levels. Evidence indicates widespread contamination with fibers and fragments dominated by polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyester at urban drainage and estuarine sinks, and detectable particles in sachet/bottled water and commercially harvested fish. Reports showed that land-based inputs dominate marine microplastic loads, which are transported into subsurface and Polar Regions by currents with effects ranging from physiological stress in organisms to potential human exposure through seafood and drinking water. This review synthesizes recent findings on major sources and environmental pathways, ecological and human-health impacts, and mitigation strategies tailored to Nigeria’s socio-environmental context. The article recommended targeted source-reduction (including enforcement of single-use plastic restrictions and alternatives for sachet water), technological upgrades in wastewater and stormwater trash capture at drainage outfalls and treatment, coordinated upstream interventions (product design, waste management, extended producer responsibility), exposure and health risks studies for high-risks occupational and coastal communities, long-term toxicology for chronic low-dose exposures (including nanoplastics), and standardized national monitoring framework. These steps are urgent to protect aquatic ecosystem services and public health in Nigeria.
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DOI: 10.54536/ajec.v4i3.6354
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