Quantitative analysis of polyethylene terephthalate and polycarbonate microplastics in sediment collected from South Korea, Japan and the USA.

Microplastics (MPs) have emerged as contaminants of public health and environmental concern. Although studies have reported the occurrence of MPs in sediment, quantitative determination of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polycarbonate (PC) concentrations is limited. In this study, marine coastal and freshwater sediment collected from various locations in South Korea, Japan and the United States were analyzed for PET and PC MPs using a depolymerization method of sample preparation followed by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) detection. PET MPs were found in surface sediments from South Korea (n = 20), Japan (n = 4) and the United States (n = 43) at concentrations (dry weight) in the ranges of