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A new study has found that rainwater in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta contains microplastics and potentially other toxic chemicals harmful to public health, raising alarm over the pervasiveness of such particles in the country’s biome – down to food consumed. Raindrops were picking up microplastics floating in Jakarta’s air, Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) revealed in its newest study on October 17. Samples of rainwater collected in coastal areas of Jakarta were found to contain about 15 microplastic particles for every one square metre (11 sq ft) per day. “If a house has an area of around 100 square metres (1,080 sq ft), it means that every day it will be hit by [rainwater] with 1,500 microplastic particles,” Muhammad Reza Cordova, a BRIN researcher who took part in the study, told This Week in Asia. Researchers found that these microscopic flakes contained synthetic fibres from clothing, polymers from tyres, and smaller pieces of plastics that broke down from combustion and degradation, among others. “We already suspected that there were microplastics in the air. But it was surprising because we thought the numbers wouldn’t be that high. We thought there would be just one or two microplastic particles [per square metre],” Muhammad said. According to him, rain helps trap microplastics in the air so “the higher the rainfall, the more microplastics are cleaned from the air we breathe every day”. However, the study should be an “alarm” for the public as it showed that microplastics were so widespread in Indonesia that they could be found “in all kinds of metrics or ecosystem levels, from water to soil and air”, Muhammad said. In August, Muhammad and his team found microplastic particles and fibres in deep sea barnacles at a depth of 200 metres (656 feet) in the northern Maluku and southwestern Philippine seas, likely from abandoned fishing gear. Last year, a collaborative study between BRIN and several universities in Indonesia and China detected microplastic particles five metres (16 feet) below the surface in the water surrounding the archipelago, from North Java and North Sulawesi to the Maluku Sea. Microplastics have also been found in water collected on Japan’s Mount Fuji and Mount Oyama, as well as in rain from several national parks in the western United States. Deadly cocktail Yuyun Ismawati, senior adviser at Nexus3 Foundation, a non-governmental organisation advocating for the eradication of dangerous chemicals, said that microplastics were risky to health as they were a “magnet” for air pollutants and toxic additive chemicals that made up a plastic fibre. “What worries me isn’t just the microplastics; I’m more concerned about the chemicals [in microplastics]. Plastic fibre is made with chemical additives so that the plastic is flexible, durable in the air, and when exposed to sunlight, it does not easily fragment,” the London-based adviser said. “There’s a cocktail effect of all the existing pollutants that makes it scary. If people inhale or come into contact with microplastics in rainwater, they also [inhale] the chemicals in them.” There’s a cocktail effect of all the existing pollutants that makes it scary Yuyun Ismawati, senior adviser at Nexus3 Foundation According to Yuyun, only a fraction of these compounds are detectable, while “ultra fine” particles are hard to measure due to technology limitations in Indonesia to sample and examine them. Multiple studies have found that exposure to microplastics can cause serious health impacts, such as hormonal disruption, damage to organs like lungs and kidneys and cancer development. Experts said that weak management of plastic waste was to blame for the plastic rain phenomenon. “The source is from open dumping sites, temporary waste storage sites and landfills. Many Indonesian landfills are not covered or not operated properly, so that when plastics are fragmented, they break into small particles and these become airborne,” Yuyun said. In Indonesia, microplastics are also found in the very food that they eat. Last year, Nexus3 Foundation and environmental group The Gita Pertiwi Foundation found microplastics in “the blood, meat and innards” of two cows that grazed the soils in two landfills in Central Java, Yuyun said. Another study by Cornell University last year, which mapped microplastic uptake across 109 countries, found that Indonesians topped the chart with 15 grams (0.5 ounces) of microplastics consumed per month, more than any other country. Malaysians ranked second at 12 grams (0.4 ounces) per month, followed by Filipinos and Vietnamese, who consumed 11 grams (0.3 ounces) per month. In Indonesia, most of the microplastics came from seafood, the study said. Responding to the study, Health Minister Budi Sadikin on Tuesday recommended Jakartans to mask up while doing outdoor activities, or “try not to walk outside after it rains”. Muhammad argued, however, that it was better to breathe post-rain air in Jakarta as the rain had cleansed it of pollutants, rather than when it was dry. “We recommend using the masks when it’s dry, but use the ones that are made from natural fibres like cotton. Medical masks are disposable, and we are concerned that this will increase plastic waste, as medical masks contain plastic polymers,” he said. On Tuesday, Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung said that the city of 10 million would soon have a waste-to-energy plant. But Muhammad said that was only part of the solution as it did not address the root of the problem. “We must stop it at the source by reducing single-use plastics, as 70 per cent of our plastics production is single-use. If not managed properly, it will become a time bomb for us,” he said. In Indonesia, the quality of plastic made for consumer products is “poor”, so they cannot be recycled and end up in landfill, while plastic recycling companies prefer to import plastic from abroad because the quality is better, according to Yuyun. As microplastics have permeated every corner of the Earth, Yuyun also urged countries to agree on the United Nations Plastics Treaty, which would establish legally binding rules around plastic disposal and production. In August, the treaty’s latest negotiation in Geneva ended in another deadlock as like-minded oil states pushed for better waste collection and recycling infrastructure for plastics, which are made using fossil fuels, while others advocated for reducing plastic production.
