Plastics in biota: technological readiness level of current methodologies
Authors (first, second and last of 11)
Collection
EUROqCHARM: Technical Readiness Levels of plastics analyses for monitoring
Plastic pollution has become a global environmental and societal concern in recent years. Numerous protocols have been developed to monitor plastic litter globally, but these are rarely comparable. This has hindered gathering of knowledge regarding pollution sources, development of monitoring programs and risk assessments, and implementation of mitigation measures. To develop long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution, it is essential to establish harmonized methodologies to aid in the development of long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution. The EUROqCHARM project addressed this over the past three years by critically reviewing state-of-the-art analytical methods and, taking harmonization one step further, validating them through an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) study.
EUROqCHARM recognized that harmonization for large scale monitoring requires flexibility, comparability and reliability. We identified Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP), resulting in a catalogue of RAP procedures for nano-, micro- and macro-plastics for the four target matrices. Each RAP was validated in terms of Technology Readiness Level to decide if further validation is needed (by ILC).
Recommendations for standards, policy and legislation and support for the establishment of acceptable reference levels and environmental targets are given in this topical collection.
Editors
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Francois Galgani
IFREMER, France
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Amy Lusher
Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Oslo, Norway
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Sebastian Primpke
Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung Biologische Anstalt, Heligoland, Germany
