EUROqCHARM
- National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, CNR) - Italy,
- Stichting Vu - Netherlands,
- Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior De Investigaciones Cientificas - Spain,
- Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research - Germany,
- Institutul National De Cercetare-Dezvoltare Marina Grigore Antipa - Romania,
- Salt Lofoten As - Norway,
- Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) - Norway,
- Eigen Vermogen van het Instituut voor Landbouw- en Visserijonderzoek - Belgium,
- Aarhus Universitet - Denmark,
- Chiron As - Norway,
- Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz - Switzerland,
- Istituto Nazionale Di Oceanografia E Di Geofisica Sperimentale - Italy,
- Association Francaise de Normalisation - France,
- Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER) - France
Plastic pollution has become a global environmental and societal concern in recent years. Numerous protocols have been developed to monitor plastic debris, but these are rarely comparable. This has hindered gathering of knowledge regarding pollution sources, development of monitoring programmes and risk assessments and implementation of mitigation measures. To develop long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution, it is essential to establish harmonised methodologies. EUROqCHARM will address this by critically reviewing state-of-the-art analytical methods and, taking harmonisation one step further, validating them through an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) study. This will bring together prominent laboratories in environmental plastics analysis and will produce certified reference materials to be marketed for at least three of the four target matrices (water, soil/sediment, biota, air), during and after project completion. EUROqCHARM recognises that harmonisation for large scale monitoring requires flexibility, comparability and reliability. We will identify Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP), resulting in a catalogue of RAP procedures for nano-, micro- and macro-plastics for the four target matrices. Each RAP will be validated in terms of Technology Readiness Level to decide if further validation is needed (by ILC). Blueprints for standards, recommendations for policy and legislation and support for the establishment of acceptable reference levels and environmental targets will be given. This will include a roadmap for harmonised data collection and management, where policy analysis and coherence will be integral parts. To maximise impact, EUROqCHARM will also establish and consolidate an operational network for plastic monitoring, stimulating Transnational Joint Actions built on existing and future European and international initiatives. The multi-stakeholder composition of EUROqCHARM puts the group in a unique position to achieve these ambitious goals.
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Knowledge Gaps
Testing considerations-general
Monitoring and detection equipment
Environmental risk assessment (ERA)
Environmental effects and ecotoxicity
Environmental fate and behavior of plastic
Publications
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