An analysis of the current and forecasted ecological risk related to the presence of microplastics on the Romanian Black Sea coast

<h2>Abstract</h2> In the last decade, the awareness of microplastics presence in the marine ecosystem has increased, leading to an urgent need to assess their impact both on the environment and, implicitly, on the human population. This study presents a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of microplastics based on their morphological properties (shape, size, and color) and polymer types. The samples were collected from 20 Romanian resorts over 82 km of Black Sea coastline. We identified a total number of 2539 microplastics in the shoreline sediment samples, with densities ranging from 122 to 536 MP kg⁻¹, the largest being more than 1000 μm and in the form of blue fibers. The most common types of polymers were medium density polyethylene (MDPE) (38 %), followed by thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), with the same percentage (17 %). The identified coastal pollution classification according to the PLI index is Risk category I. At the same time, 75 % of the coastline was designated risk category II based on RCR values with observed increasing values. Therefore, based on the forecasted results, there will be a a sharp increase in environmental risk in the near and medium future If solid wasted is not reduced and waste management is not reduced.