Public Lab Wiki documentation



Filtering microplastics from sand

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Community groups have gotten creative with ways to collect and filter microplastics pollution from sandy coastal beaches and riverbanks. Read on below for methods that range from standardized protocols, to clean up strategies, to youth-oriented activities.

Lead image from @eustatic in this post

Methods for filtering microplastics from sand

riverbank
Larger microplastics sampling on a riverbank
  • The Plastic Pirates campaign in the EU outlines a method in their project booklet (pg. 26) for sampling microplastics larger than 1 mm from sandy riverbanks.
  • Great for young people aged 10-16 years! The Plastic Pirates website has support materials and guides for teachers and youth, and instructions on how to build a sampling sieve.
  • Data produced: larger microplastic pieces per square meter.
NOAAshorelinesurvey
Beach transect surveys

Image: NOAA, public domain

scoopandsift
Sweep and Pan vs. Scoop and Sift: Methods for Nurdle Retrieval

A post from @eustatic that outlines different ways to clean up nurdles (plastic pellets) with readily available tools. Some of these methods and tools could be incorporated into other survey methods described above.

Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA

meshbox
Commercial mesh box for filtering plastic nurdles from a river beach

Another post from @eustatic showing a simple and highly effective method for sorting large numbers of nurdles (plastic pellets) from sand.



Activities

Posts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with activity:filter-microplastics-from-sand will appear here. You can post your own activity using the button below.


Activities should include a materials list, costs and a step-by-step guide to construction with photos. Learn what makes a good activity here.


Questions

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Have you used other methods to filter microplastics debris from sand? Please edit this wiki page!