Surabaya City Government Examines Allegations Of Rain Containing Microplastics

SURABAYA - The Surabaya City Government (Pemkot) will immediately conduct an in-depth study related to the phenomenon of rain which is suspected to contain microplastics.

In the near future, the City Government will cooperate with accredited institutions and universities to ensure the truth of these findings.

Head of the Surabaya City Environment Agency (DLH), Dedik Irianto, explained that this test step is important to find out whether it is true that rainwater in Surabaya contains microplastics.

According to him, microplastics can come from various sources, such as plastic waste that is not well managed, random burning that is still often carried out by residents, friction of vehicle tires with asphalt or other transportation activities, to plastic particles in the air due to heat and weather changes that make plastic decompose.

"Metropolitan cities are very at risk of containing microplastics, both in water and air. Plastic can be destroyed due to heat, then carried away by the wind," explained Dedik Irianto to reporters, Tuesday, November 18.

Dedik Irianto said, there are at least two possibilities for microplastics to be carried away by rainwater, namely that microplastics are already in the air and then carried away when it rains, and clouds containing microplastics come from areas outside Surabaya.

Therefore, testing is carried out to trace the origin of the contamination and how much concentration it is.

The Surabaya City Government has taken various steps to prevent microplastic pollution. One of them is the treatment of centralized waste in the Benowo TPA using power plant gasification technology, which converts waste into electrical energy.

This technology allows the management of fly ash and bottom ash (FABA) so as not to be released into the air.

"The combustion results have been managed properly so that the ash does not pollute the air," he concluded.

The Surabaya City Government emphasized that the results of the test will later become the basis for further steps, including mitigation of microplastic pollution in metropolitan cities such as Surabaya.