Search

Catchment-scale plastic pollution assessments provide insights in its sources, sinks, and pathways. We present an approach to quantify macroplastic transport and density across the Odaw catchment, Ghana. We divided the catchment into the non-urban riverine, urban riverine, and urban tidal zones. Macroplastic transport and density on riverbanks and land were monitored at ten locations in December 2021. The urban riverine zone had the highest transport, and the urban tidal zone had the highest riverbank and land macroplastic density. Water sachets, soft fragments, and foam fragments were the most abundant items. Our approach aims to be transferable to other catchments globally. • The urban zones had the highest macroplastic transport and density. • Dominant macroplastic items were single-use plastic bags, water sachets, and foam fragments. • Plastic transport and accumulation hotspots were mainly in the urban zones. • Top 10 items varied considerably between the different catchment zones, and for riverbank and land. • Simple replicable monitoring approach allows for catchment-scale plastic pollution quantification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]