Revisions for Microplastics
| 11 CURRENT | bhamster |
November 19, 2020 18:31
| over 3 years ago
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long. Some microplastics start out small, like industrial plastic pellets used to make plastic products, or microbeads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste [1]. Other microplastics result from large pieces of plastic breaking down. Tumbling around in water or on land, exposure to sunlight, and interactions with living things can break down plastic materials into smaller microplastics [2]. Small fragments of plastic water bottles, fibers from fleece clothing, frayed pieces of nylon rope—these can all be microplastics. They never go away, they just get smaller and smaller. Microplastics are made of materials called polymers, and these polymers commonly come from refined oil and gas. Especially prevalent as pollution in the environment are polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. How can microplastics pollution affect our communities? You might have already heard that microplastics are a problem. They’re polluting our oceans and our coasts, but they’re also in rivers and city canals, in drinking water, and in our seafood—microplastics pollution is a local problem affecting environmental and public health. Microplastics have the potential to harm human health because they easily absorb toxic chemicals. If we drink water containing microplastics or eat seafood that’s ingested microplastics, we’re exposing ourselves to those chemicals, too [3]. Communities with close connections to water as a source of food have the potential to experience greater impacts from microplastics pollution. This page is a place to collect and organize resources on microplastics pollution and monitoring. Visit the microplastics tag page to see the latest community posts about microplastics on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by subscribing: Sources: [1] NOAA, what are microplastics? [2] Masura et al. 2015 [3] Karbalaei et al. 2018 Lead image from @maxliboiron's work
On this page you can:
See community stories and projects on microplastics Join the conversation
Find further reading and resources on microplastics See what’s still unknown and next step challenges in microplastics monitoring Community stories and projectsImage from Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0. Lavaca Bay residents win $50-million settlement with Formosa PlasticsWhat was the issue? In 2009, Diane Wilson, an environmental activist and retired shrimper in Seadrift, Texas, noticed hundreds of small plastic pellets (nurdles) polluting the shores and waterways of Lavaca Bay on the Gulf Coast. The area is home to a generations-old fishing community, tourism industry, and a plastic pellet manufacturing plant run by Formosa Plastics. How did they research the issue? Diane and other local residents, including former Formosa plant workers and members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, went out on foot and by kayak to collect plastic pellets by hand, visiting multiple sites, several times a week, over several years. They teamed up with an environmental scientist who wrote a report documenting the pollution, outlining its potential harm on the ecosystem, and recommending that Formosa stop releasing pellets immediately and monitor their outfalls into the Bay. And, they worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who provided free legal services. Using data from another citizen initiative to document plastic pellet pollution along the Gulf Coast, Diane and the Lavaca Bay residents could show that the highest pellet counts occurred near the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort. What did they do with their findings? Over the years, Diane appealed to state regulators, the EPA, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Despite a $13-million fine in 2009, Formosa continued to illegally dump plastic pellets into local waters. The residents eventually amassed over 2000 samples of plastic pellets and powder, storing them in large bins and cardboard boxes as evidence of illegal dumping. As Formosa continued to pollute the Bay and regulators failed to enforce compliance, in 2017, Diane and the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers sued Formosa in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act. The judge approved an historic $50-million settlement that will fund cleaning up, monitoring, and preventing further pollution. It will also fund community groups, like the citizen science project Nurdle Patrol. Formosa also agreed to zero-discharge of plastic pellets going forward.
A Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.) on the Fraser RiverTwo volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, share their story of tracking down plastic pellet pollution and its source along the Fraser River in this short documentary film.
Latest community storiesA “nurdle apocalypse” in the Mississippi River
The pandemic and plastic pollution British Columbia is funding coastal communities to clean up marine debris as their typical sources of income from ecotourism decline because of COVID-19. Do you have a project or story to share? Start a project page or write a blog post and add the tag Join the conversationImage: @mollydanielsson Questions from the community
[questions:microplastics] Post an Issue BriefShare a local concern or issue related to microplastics pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “Write an Issue Brief” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. Research microplastics pollutionImage: @mollydanielsson Check out research notes and activities below to see how community members are investigating microplastics or to post your own ideas or stories. Further below, you’ll find more information on how you can get started in microplastics research. Research notesPosts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with [notes:microplastics] ActivitiesActivities on Public Lab that have been tagged with [activities:microplastics] Overview of approaches and preparing for researchImage: @warren
Cheaper and more readily available approaches:
Collecting by hand or with an inexpensive filter or net and visually analyzing the sample to identify, count, and photograph microplastics. More expensive and precise approaches: Collecting by research-grade net or filter and analyzing with visual and chemical techniques to identify the make up of microplastics and their concentration in the environment. Methods for monitoring microplasticsBelow you’ll find information on how you can get started in microplastics monitoring in your community, with a focus on more readily available tools. The process is broken down into sampling, processing, analyzing data, and what to do with your data. Detailed posts on methods published on Public Lab and tagged with Do you have a tool or method to share? Start a method page and add the tag Collecting your sampleAre you near a coastal beach? A freshwater stream? A city canal? There are ways to collect microplastics in all these places. Common locations where you might sample microplastics:
General sampling advice:
Survey a beach or shoreline and pick up by hand
Nurdle survey
Image: hockadilly, CC BY SA 
Filtering microplastics from sand
Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA
Collect from water using a surface trawlSurface trawls generally consist of a net or filter attached to a rigid frame, which is attached to a rope. The net captures items from the water. Do you have to know where the microplastics are before trawling? Not necessarily! Biased trawl: if you sample through a specific location where you see visible trash pollution. Why might you use a trawl rather than just an aquarium net with a handle? The attached rope enables you to tow the net from behind a boat in open water, tie the net to a tree or stake if you’re sampling a river, or dangle the net from a bridge or broomstick if you’re sampling a canal or shoreline.
BabyLegs
Image: Dave Howell for MEOPAR 
Bridge Trawl
Image: @TestOurWaters, CC BY SA 
Ice Cream Scoop Trawl
Image: CLEAR Dairy Queens, CC BY 
Plastic Pirates sampling protocol for larger floating microplastics
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC 
Research grade surface trawlsThese trawls usually aren’t readily available to most people but are included here to show the breadth of tools out there.
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC Collect from water using a container: “grab sample”To do a grab sample, you fill a non-plastic container with a known volume of surface water and filter the sample later to analyze it. You can use this method to sample a greater range of locations and smaller microplastics than surface trawls, with lower-cost equipment. Processing and analyzing the sample will likely need laboratory equipment, especially if you’re looking for microplastics smaller than 1 mm in size. Check out this paper for a description of the procedure: Barrows et al. 2017. Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Analytical Methods, 9: 1446-1453. PDF.
Processing your sampleIf you used a net or filter to collect microplastics, next you’ll process your sample. This means removing the materials from your filter and drying them so you can analyze them further. See the note How to process microplastic samples from a trawl from @maxliboiron for instructions using readily accessible materials.
Analyzing your sampleIf you need to sort through your dried sample to identify, isolate, and count microplastics, read on for information on how you can analyze your sample. Step-by-step how to analyze your sample forensically: This post from @maxliboiron includes a list of readily available materials, easy-to-follow instructions, tips on identifying microplastics, and lots of photos of different kinds of microplastics. More involved analysis methods that require lab equipment are described in “Laboratory methods for the analysis of microplastics in the marine environment: recommendations for quantifying synthetic particles in waters and sediments,” from the US NOAA Marine Debris program.
Resources on materials and tools for analysisIdentification guides Visual guides that can help you tell what’s plastic and what’s not, and what kinds of plastic you have.
Dissecting scope A low-magnification dissecting scope can be helpful for viewing and analyzing microplastics. Image by @warren, originally in the post, “Can the Community Microscope analyze ocean microplastics?” Build a low-magnification "dissection microscope" for microplastics: this post by @warren gives step-by-step instructions on how to adapt the Community Microscope (which you can buy here) into a dissecting scope! The key is to have a light source and lens on the same side, pointing down toward your plastic sample sitting on top of a slide or small tray. Have you used an adapted Community Microscope to look at microplastics? Please share a research note with your images!
Other assorted items
What the data can look like
Analysis methods for peer-reviewed researchInstruments that use spectrometry (like Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy) measure how infrared light interacts with and reflects off a material, producing a spectral image unique to that material. Comparing spectra from your sample material to spectra from known polymer materials can reveal the chemical makeup of microplastics in your sample. These instruments are often expensive, but check out the links below for open source, cheaper options! Open source tools for spectrometry
Do you have open source tools of your own? Post them here! What can you do with your data?You’ve collected microplastics, processed and analyzed them, and now you have data! What can you do with it? Reporting nurdle / plastic pellet counts
Reporting all marine debris
Do you know about other databases for reporting microplastic pollution, or are you interested in creating an open database? See the next step challenges below, or share your ideas in a research note!
Emerging methods and technologiesWhere is microplastics monitoring going next? If you’re interested in developing community tools for microplastics research, this section might offer some ideas on what work is happening. Techniques for quickly analyzing large amounts of microplastics Known as “high-throughput techniques.” Technical labs will carry out the techniques, but eventually, individuals and communities may be able to collect a microplastics sample and then send it to the lab for affordable analysis. More standards on plastic pollution research methods and reporting Microplastics research is a quickly-growing field! And there are many ways to collect, prepare, and analyze samples. Having common protocols for monitoring and reporting on microplastics will help make it easier for everyone to share and compare data.
Regulations, policy, and advocacyFederal regulationsWhat regulations exist, what agencies are in charge, and how does enforcement work or not work?
International regulations and policy
A success story from Nurdle Patrol! Quoting Jace Tunnell of Nurdle Patrol and his collaborators in Texas:
(Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0)
What’s happening in microplastics regulationCalifornia leads the way in regulating microplastics in drinking water
What advocacy can communities do?Do you have ideas on what advocacy communities can do with microplastics data they gather? Or a story to share on how you’ve dealt with this issue? Post a research note and it’ll appear in the Research Notes grid above! Further reading and resourcesAdditional resources
Further reading
Next step challengesWhat are some areas where microplastics monitoring and tool development could improve or go next? What questions remain? A place for open community data?
Standardized methods for everyone
Microplastics monitoring in air and soil
Do you have anything to share about these challenges? Ideas on how to approach them? Or want to discuss other challenges not included here? Please post a research note and link it here! Image: @mollydanielsson |
Revert | |
| 10 | amocorro |
October 15, 2020 15:51
| over 3 years ago
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long. Some microplastics start out small, like industrial plastic pellets used to make plastic products, or microbeads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste [1]. Other microplastics result from large pieces of plastic breaking down. Tumbling around in water or on land, exposure to sunlight, and interactions with living things can break down plastic materials into smaller microplastics [2]. Small fragments of plastic water bottles, fibers from fleece clothing, frayed pieces of nylon rope—these can all be microplastics. They never go away, they just get smaller and smaller. Microplastics are made of materials called polymers, and these polymers commonly come from refined oil and gas. Especially prevalent as pollution in the environment are polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. How can microplastics pollution affect our communities? You might have already heard that microplastics are a problem. They’re polluting our oceans and our coasts, but they’re also in rivers and city canals, in drinking water, and in our seafood—microplastics pollution is a local problem affecting environmental and public health. Microplastics have the potential to harm human health because they easily absorb toxic chemicals. If we drink water containing microplastics or eat seafood that’s ingested microplastics, we’re exposing ourselves to those chemicals, too [3]. Communities with close connections to water as a source of food have the potential to experience greater impacts from microplastics pollution. This page is a place to collect and organize resources on microplastics pollution and monitoring. Visit the microplastics tag page to see the latest community posts about microplastics on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by subscribing: Sources: [1] NOAA, what are microplastics? [2] Masura et al. 2015 [3] Karbalaei et al. 2018 Lead image from @maxliboiron's work
On this page you can:
See community stories and projects on microplastics Join the conversation
Find further reading and resources on microplastics See what’s still unknown and next step challenges in microplastics monitoring Community stories and projectsImage from Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0. Lavaca Bay residents win $50-million settlement with Formosa PlasticsWhat was the issue? In 2009, Diane Wilson, an environmental activist and retired shrimper in Seadrift, Texas, noticed hundreds of small plastic pellets (nurdles) polluting the shores and waterways of Lavaca Bay on the Gulf Coast. The area is home to a generations-old fishing community, tourism industry, and a plastic pellet manufacturing plant run by Formosa Plastics. How did they research the issue? Diane and other local residents, including former Formosa plant workers and members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, went out on foot and by kayak to collect plastic pellets by hand, visiting multiple sites, several times a week, over several years. They teamed up with an environmental scientist who wrote a report documenting the pollution, outlining its potential harm on the ecosystem, and recommending that Formosa stop releasing pellets immediately and monitor their outfalls into the Bay. And, they worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who provided free legal services. Using data from another citizen initiative to document plastic pellet pollution along the Gulf Coast, Diane and the Lavaca Bay residents could show that the highest pellet counts occurred near the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort. What did they do with their findings? Over the years, Diane appealed to state regulators, the EPA, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Despite a $13-million fine in 2009, Formosa continued to illegally dump plastic pellets into local waters. The residents eventually amassed over 2000 samples of plastic pellets and powder, storing them in large bins and cardboard boxes as evidence of illegal dumping. As Formosa continued to pollute the Bay and regulators failed to enforce compliance, in 2017, Diane and the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers sued Formosa in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act. The judge approved an historic $50-million settlement that will fund cleaning up, monitoring, and preventing further pollution. It will also fund community groups, like the citizen science project Nurdle Patrol. Formosa also agreed to zero-discharge of plastic pellets going forward.
A Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.) on the Fraser RiverTwo volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, share their story of tracking down plastic pellet pollution and its source along the Fraser River in this short documentary film.
Latest community storiesA “nurdle apocalypse” in the Mississippi River
The pandemic and plastic pollution British Columbia is funding coastal communities to clean up marine debris as their typical sources of income from ecotourism decline because of COVID-19. Do you have a project or story to share? Start a project page or write a blog post and add the tag Join the conversationImage: @mollydanielsson Questions from the community
[questions:microplastics] Post an Issue BriefShare a local concern or issue related to microplastics pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “Write an Issue Brief” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. Research microplastics pollutionImage: @mollydanielsson Check out research notes and activities below to see how community members are investigating microplastics or to post your own ideas or stories. Further below, you’ll find more information on how you can get started in microplastics research. Research notesPosts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with [notes:microplastics] ActivitiesActivities on Public Lab that have been tagged with [activities:microplastics] Overview of approaches and preparing for researchImage: @warren
Cheaper and more readily available approaches:
Collecting by hand or with an inexpensive filter or net and visually analyzing the sample to identify, count, and photograph microplastics. More expensive and precise approaches: Collecting by research-grade net or filter and analyzing with visual and chemical techniques to identify the make up of microplastics and their concentration in the environment. Methods for monitoring microplasticsBelow you’ll find information on how you can get started in microplastics monitoring in your community, with a focus on more readily available tools. The process is broken down into sampling, processing, analyzing data, and what to do with your data. Detailed posts on methods published on Public Lab and tagged with Do you have a tool or method to share? Start a method page and add the tag Collecting your sampleAre you near a coastal beach? A freshwater stream? A city canal? There are ways to collect microplastics in all these places. Common locations where you might sample microplastics:
General sampling advice:
Survey a beach or shoreline and pick up by hand
Timed nurdle survey
Image: hockadilly, CC BY SA 
Larger microplastics sampling on a riverbank
Beach transect surveys
Image: NOAA, public domain 
Cleaning up a nurdle spillA post from @eustatic that outlines different ways to clean up nurdles: Sweep and Pan vs Scoop and Sift: Methods for Nurdle Retrieval. Some of these methods and tools could probably be incorporated into other survey methods described above. Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA
Collect from water using a surface trawlSurface trawls generally consist of a net or filter attached to a rigid frame, which is attached to a rope. The net captures items from the water. Do you have to know where the microplastics are before trawling? Not necessarily! Biased trawl: if you sample through a specific location where you see visible trash pollution. Why might you use a trawl rather than just an aquarium net with a handle? The attached rope enables you to tow the net from behind a boat in open water, tie the net to a tree or stake if you’re sampling a river, or dangle the net from a bridge or broomstick if you’re sampling a canal or shoreline.
BabyLegs
Image: Dave Howell for MEOPAR
Bridge Trawl
Image: @TestOurWaters, CC BY SA
Ice Cream Scoop Trawl
Image: CLEAR Dairy Queens, CC BY
Plastic Pirates sampling protocol for larger floating microplastics
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC
Research grade surface trawlsThese trawls usually aren’t readily available to most people but are included here to show the breadth of tools out there.
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC Collect from water using a container: “grab sample”To do a grab sample, you fill a non-plastic container with a known volume of surface water and filter the sample later to analyze it. You can use this method to sample a greater range of locations and smaller microplastics than surface trawls, with lower-cost equipment. Processing and analyzing the sample will likely need laboratory equipment, especially if you’re looking for microplastics smaller than 1 mm in size. Check out this paper for a description of the procedure: Barrows et al. 2017. Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Analytical Methods, 9: 1446-1453. PDF.
Processing your sampleIf you used a net or filter to collect microplastics, next you’ll process your sample. This means removing the materials from your filter and drying them so you can analyze them further. See the note How to process microplastic samples from a trawl from @maxliboiron for instructions using readily accessible materials.
Analyzing your sampleIf you need to sort through your dried sample to identify, isolate, and count microplastics, read on for information on how you can analyze your sample. Step-by-step how to analyze your sample forensically: This post from @maxliboiron includes a list of readily available materials, easy-to-follow instructions, tips on identifying microplastics, and lots of photos of different kinds of microplastics. More involved analysis methods that require lab equipment are described in “Laboratory methods for the analysis of microplastics in the marine environment: recommendations for quantifying synthetic particles in waters and sediments,” from the US NOAA Marine Debris program.
Resources on materials and tools for analysisIdentification guides Visual guides that can help you tell what’s plastic and what’s not, and what kinds of plastic you have.
Dissecting scope A low-magnification dissecting scope can be helpful for viewing and analyzing microplastics. Image by @warren, originally in the post, “Can the Community Microscope analyze ocean microplastics?” Build a low-magnification "dissection microscope" for microplastics: this post by @warren gives step-by-step instructions on how to adapt the Community Microscope (which you can buy here) into a dissecting scope! The key is to have a light source and lens on the same side, pointing down toward your plastic sample sitting on top of a slide or small tray. Have you used an adapted Community Microscope to look at microplastics? Please share a research note with your images!
Other assorted items
What the data can look like
Analysis methods for peer-reviewed researchInstruments that use spectrometry (like Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy) measure how infrared light interacts with and reflects off a material, producing a spectral image unique to that material. Comparing spectra from your sample material to spectra from known polymer materials can reveal the chemical makeup of microplastics in your sample. These instruments are often expensive, but check out the links below for open source, cheaper options! Open source tools for spectrometry
Do you have open source tools of your own? Post them here! What can you do with your data?You’ve collected microplastics, processed and analyzed them, and now you have data! What can you do with it? Reporting nurdle / plastic pellet counts
Reporting all marine debris
Do you know about other databases for reporting microplastic pollution, or are you interested in creating an open database? See the next step challenges below, or share your ideas in a research note!
Emerging methods and technologiesWhere is microplastics monitoring going next? If you’re interested in developing community tools for microplastics research, this section might offer some ideas on what work is happening. Techniques for quickly analyzing large amounts of microplastics Known as “high-throughput techniques.” Technical labs will carry out the techniques, but eventually, individuals and communities may be able to collect a microplastics sample and then send it to the lab for affordable analysis. More standards on plastic pollution research methods and reporting Microplastics research is a quickly-growing field! And there are many ways to collect, prepare, and analyze samples. Having common protocols for monitoring and reporting on microplastics will help make it easier for everyone to share and compare data.
Regulations, policy, and advocacyFederal regulationsWhat regulations exist, what agencies are in charge, and how does enforcement work or not work?
International regulations and policy
A success story from Nurdle Patrol! Quoting Jace Tunnell of Nurdle Patrol and his collaborators in Texas:
(Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0)
What’s happening in microplastics regulationCalifornia leads the way in regulating microplastics in drinking water
What advocacy can communities do?Do you have ideas on what advocacy communities can do with microplastics data they gather? Or a story to share on how you’ve dealt with this issue? Post a research note and it’ll appear in the Research Notes grid above! Further reading and resourcesAdditional resources
Further reading
Next step challengesWhat are some areas where microplastics monitoring and tool development could improve or go next? What questions remain? A place for open community data?
Standardized methods for everyone
Microplastics monitoring in air and soil
Do you have anything to share about these challenges? Ideas on how to approach them? Or want to discuss other challenges not included here? Please post a research note and link it here! Image: @mollydanielsson |
Revert | |
| 9 | amocorro |
October 15, 2020 15:44
| over 3 years ago
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long. Some microplastics start out small, like industrial plastic pellets used to make plastic products, or microbeads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste [1]. Other microplastics result from large pieces of plastic breaking down. Tumbling around in water or on land, exposure to sunlight, and interactions with living things can break down plastic materials into smaller microplastics [2]. Small fragments of plastic water bottles, fibers from fleece clothing, frayed pieces of nylon rope—these can all be microplastics. They never go away, they just get smaller and smaller. Microplastics are made of materials called polymers, and these polymers commonly come from refined oil and gas. Especially prevalent as pollution in the environment are polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. How can microplastics pollution affect our communities? You might have already heard that microplastics are a problem. They’re polluting our oceans and our coasts, but they’re also in rivers and city canals, in drinking water, and in our seafood—microplastics pollution is a local problem affecting environmental and public health. Microplastics have the potential to harm human health because they easily absorb toxic chemicals. If we drink water containing microplastics or eat seafood that’s ingested microplastics, we’re exposing ourselves to those chemicals, too [3]. Communities with close connections to water as a source of food have the potential to experience greater impacts from microplastics pollution. This page is a place to collect and organize resources on microplastics pollution and monitoring. Visit the microplastics tag page to see the latest community posts about microplastics on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by subscribing: Sources: [1] NOAA, what are microplastics? [2] Masura et al. 2015 [3] Karbalaei et al. 2018 Lead image from @maxliboiron's work
On this page you can:
See community stories and projects on microplastics Join the conversation
Find further reading and resources on microplastics See what’s still unknown and next step challenges in microplastics monitoring Community stories and projectsImage from Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0. Lavaca Bay residents win $50-million settlement with Formosa PlasticsWhat was the issue? In 2009, Diane Wilson, an environmental activist and retired shrimper in Seadrift, Texas, noticed hundreds of small plastic pellets (nurdles) polluting the shores and waterways of Lavaca Bay on the Gulf Coast. The area is home to a generations-old fishing community, tourism industry, and a plastic pellet manufacturing plant run by Formosa Plastics. How did they research the issue? Diane and other local residents, including former Formosa plant workers and members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, went out on foot and by kayak to collect plastic pellets by hand, visiting multiple sites, several times a week, over several years. They teamed up with an environmental scientist who wrote a report documenting the pollution, outlining its potential harm on the ecosystem, and recommending that Formosa stop releasing pellets immediately and monitor their outfalls into the Bay. And, they worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who provided free legal services. Using data from another citizen initiative to document plastic pellet pollution along the Gulf Coast, Diane and the Lavaca Bay residents could show that the highest pellet counts occurred near the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort. What did they do with their findings? Over the years, Diane appealed to state regulators, the EPA, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Despite a $13-million fine in 2009, Formosa continued to illegally dump plastic pellets into local waters. The residents eventually amassed over 2000 samples of plastic pellets and powder, storing them in large bins and cardboard boxes as evidence of illegal dumping. As Formosa continued to pollute the Bay and regulators failed to enforce compliance, in 2017, Diane and the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers sued Formosa in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act. The judge approved an historic $50-million settlement that will fund cleaning up, monitoring, and preventing further pollution. It will also fund community groups, like the citizen science project Nurdle Patrol. Formosa also agreed to zero-discharge of plastic pellets going forward.
A Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.) on the Fraser RiverTwo volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, share their story of tracking down plastic pellet pollution and its source along the Fraser River in this short documentary film.
Latest community storiesA “nurdle apocalypse” in the Mississippi River
The pandemic and plastic pollution British Columbia is funding coastal communities to clean up marine debris as their typical sources of income from ecotourism decline because of COVID-19. Do you have a project or story to share? Start a project page or write a blog post and add the tag Join the conversationImage: @mollydanielsson Questions from the community
[questions:microplastics] Post an Issue BriefShare a local concern or issue related to microplastics pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “Write an Issue Brief” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. Research microplastics pollutionImage: @mollydanielsson Check out research notes and activities below to see how community members are investigating microplastics or to post your own ideas or stories. Further below, you’ll find more information on how you can get started in microplastics research. Research notesPosts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with [notes:microplastics] ActivitiesActivities on Public Lab that have been tagged with [activities:microplastics] Overview of approaches and preparing for researchImage: @warren
Cheaper and more readily available approaches:
Collecting by hand or with an inexpensive filter or net and visually analyzing the sample to identify, count, and photograph microplastics. More expensive and precise approaches: Collecting by research-grade net or filter and analyzing with visual and chemical techniques to identify the make up of microplastics and their concentration in the environment. Methods for monitoring microplasticsBelow you’ll find information on how you can get started in microplastics monitoring in your community, with a focus on more readily available tools. The process is broken down into sampling, processing, analyzing data, and what to do with your data. Detailed posts on methods published on Public Lab and tagged with Do you have a tool or method to share? Start a method page and add the tag Collecting your sampleAre you near a coastal beach? A freshwater stream? A city canal? There are ways to collect microplastics in all these places. Common locations where you might sample microplastics:
General sampling advice:
Survey a beach or shoreline and pick up by hand
Timed nurdle survey
Image: hockadilly, CC BY SA
Larger microplastics sampling on a riverbank
Beach transect surveys
Image: NOAA, public domain
Cleaning up a nurdle spillA post from @eustatic that outlines different ways to clean up nurdles: Sweep and Pan vs Scoop and Sift: Methods for Nurdle Retrieval. Some of these methods and tools could probably be incorporated into other survey methods described above. Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA
Collect from water using a surface trawlSurface trawls generally consist of a net or filter attached to a rigid frame, which is attached to a rope. The net captures items from the water. Do you have to know where the microplastics are before trawling? Not necessarily! Biased trawl: if you sample through a specific location where you see visible trash pollution. Why might you use a trawl rather than just an aquarium net with a handle? The attached rope enables you to tow the net from behind a boat in open water, tie the net to a tree or stake if you’re sampling a river, or dangle the net from a bridge or broomstick if you’re sampling a canal or shoreline.
BabyLegs
Image: Dave Howell for MEOPAR
Bridge Trawl
Image: @TestOurWaters, CC BY SA
Ice Cream Scoop Trawl
Image: CLEAR Dairy Queens, CC BY
Plastic Pirates sampling protocol for larger floating microplastics
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC
Research grade surface trawlsThese trawls usually aren’t readily available to most people but are included here to show the breadth of tools out there.
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC Collect from water using a container: “grab sample”To do a grab sample, you fill a non-plastic container with a known volume of surface water and filter the sample later to analyze it. You can use this method to sample a greater range of locations and smaller microplastics than surface trawls, with lower-cost equipment. Processing and analyzing the sample will likely need laboratory equipment, especially if you’re looking for microplastics smaller than 1 mm in size. Check out this paper for a description of the procedure: Barrows et al. 2017. Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Analytical Methods, 9: 1446-1453. PDF.
Processing your sampleIf you used a net or filter to collect microplastics, next you’ll process your sample. This means removing the materials from your filter and drying them so you can analyze them further. See the note How to process microplastic samples from a trawl from @maxliboiron for instructions using readily accessible materials.
Analyzing your sampleIf you need to sort through your dried sample to identify, isolate, and count microplastics, read on for information on how you can analyze your sample. Step-by-step how to analyze your sample forensically: This post from @maxliboiron includes a list of readily available materials, easy-to-follow instructions, tips on identifying microplastics, and lots of photos of different kinds of microplastics. More involved analysis methods that require lab equipment are described in “Laboratory methods for the analysis of microplastics in the marine environment: recommendations for quantifying synthetic particles in waters and sediments,” from the US NOAA Marine Debris program.
Resources on materials and tools for analysisIdentification guides Visual guides that can help you tell what’s plastic and what’s not, and what kinds of plastic you have.
Dissecting scope A low-magnification dissecting scope can be helpful for viewing and analyzing microplastics. Image by @warren, originally in the post, “Can the Community Microscope analyze ocean microplastics?” Build a low-magnification "dissection microscope" for microplastics: this post by @warren gives step-by-step instructions on how to adapt the Community Microscope (which you can buy here) into a dissecting scope! The key is to have a light source and lens on the same side, pointing down toward your plastic sample sitting on top of a slide or small tray. Have you used an adapted Community Microscope to look at microplastics? Please share a research note with your images!
Other assorted items
What the data can look like
Analysis methods for peer-reviewed researchInstruments that use spectrometry (like Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy) measure how infrared light interacts with and reflects off a material, producing a spectral image unique to that material. Comparing spectra from your sample material to spectra from known polymer materials can reveal the chemical makeup of microplastics in your sample. These instruments are often expensive, but check out the links below for open source, cheaper options! Open source tools for spectrometry
Do you have open source tools of your own? Post them here! What can you do with your data?You’ve collected microplastics, processed and analyzed them, and now you have data! What can you do with it? Reporting nurdle / plastic pellet counts
Reporting all marine debris
Do you know about other databases for reporting microplastic pollution, or are you interested in creating an open database? See the next step challenges below, or share your ideas in a research note!
Emerging methods and technologiesWhere is microplastics monitoring going next? If you’re interested in developing community tools for microplastics research, this section might offer some ideas on what work is happening. Techniques for quickly analyzing large amounts of microplastics Known as “high-throughput techniques.” Technical labs will carry out the techniques, but eventually, individuals and communities may be able to collect a microplastics sample and then send it to the lab for affordable analysis. More standards on plastic pollution research methods and reporting Microplastics research is a quickly-growing field! And there are many ways to collect, prepare, and analyze samples. Having common protocols for monitoring and reporting on microplastics will help make it easier for everyone to share and compare data.
Regulations, policy, and advocacyFederal regulationsWhat regulations exist, what agencies are in charge, and how does enforcement work or not work?
International regulations and policy
A success story from Nurdle Patrol! Quoting Jace Tunnell of Nurdle Patrol and his collaborators in Texas:
(Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0)
What’s happening in microplastics regulationCalifornia leads the way in regulating microplastics in drinking water
What advocacy can communities do?Do you have ideas on what advocacy communities can do with microplastics data they gather? Or a story to share on how you’ve dealt with this issue? Post a research note and it’ll appear in the Research Notes grid above! Further reading and resourcesAdditional resources
Further reading
Next step challengesWhat are some areas where microplastics monitoring and tool development could improve or go next? What questions remain? A place for open community data?
Standardized methods for everyone
Microplastics monitoring in air and soil
Do you have anything to share about these challenges? Ideas on how to approach them? Or want to discuss other challenges not included here? Please post a research note and link it here! Image: @mollydanielsson |
Revert | |
| 8 | bhamster |
September 22, 2020 19:26
| over 3 years ago
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long. Some microplastics start out small, like industrial plastic pellets used to make plastic products, or microbeads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste [1]. Other microplastics result from large pieces of plastic breaking down. Tumbling around in water or on land, exposure to sunlight, and interactions with living things can break down plastic materials into smaller microplastics [2]. Small fragments of plastic water bottles, fibers from fleece clothing, frayed pieces of nylon rope—these can all be microplastics. They never go away, they just get smaller and smaller. Microplastics are made of materials called polymers, and these polymers commonly come from refined oil and gas. Especially prevalent as pollution in the environment are polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. How can microplastics pollution affect our communities? You might have already heard that microplastics are a problem. They’re polluting our oceans and our coasts, but they’re also in rivers and city canals, in drinking water, and in our seafood—microplastics pollution is a local problem affecting environmental and public health. Microplastics have the potential to harm human health because they easily absorb toxic chemicals. If we drink water containing microplastics or eat seafood that’s ingested microplastics, we’re exposing ourselves to those chemicals, too [3]. Communities with close connections to water as a source of food have the potential to experience greater impacts from microplastics pollution. This page is a place to collect and organize resources on microplastics pollution and monitoring. Visit the microplastics tag page to see the latest community posts about microplastics on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by subscribing: Sources: [1] NOAA, what are microplastics? [2] Masura et al. 2015 [3] Karbalaei et al. 2018 Lead image from @maxliboiron's work
On this page you can:
See community stories and projects on microplastics Join the conversation
Find further reading and resources on microplastics See what’s still unknown and next step challenges in microplastics monitoring Community stories and projectsImage from Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0. Lavaca Bay residents win $50-million settlement with Formosa PlasticsWhat was the issue? In 2009, Diane Wilson, an environmental activist and retired shrimper in Seadrift, Texas, noticed hundreds of small plastic pellets (nurdles) polluting the shores and waterways of Lavaca Bay on the Gulf Coast. The area is home to a generations-old fishing community, tourism industry, and a plastic pellet manufacturing plant run by Formosa Plastics. How did they research the issue? Diane and other local residents, including former Formosa plant workers and members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, went out on foot and by kayak to collect plastic pellets by hand, visiting multiple sites, several times a week, over several years. They teamed up with an environmental scientist who wrote a report documenting the pollution, outlining its potential harm on the ecosystem, and recommending that Formosa stop releasing pellets immediately and monitor their outfalls into the Bay. And, they worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who provided free legal services. Using data from another citizen initiative to document plastic pellet pollution along the Gulf Coast, Diane and the Lavaca Bay residents could show that the highest pellet counts occurred near the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort. What did they do with their findings? Over the years, Diane appealed to state regulators, the EPA, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Despite a $13-million fine in 2009, Formosa continued to illegally dump plastic pellets into local waters. The residents eventually amassed over 2000 samples of plastic pellets and powder, storing them in large bins and cardboard boxes as evidence of illegal dumping. As Formosa continued to pollute the Bay and regulators failed to enforce compliance, in 2017, Diane and the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers sued Formosa in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act. The judge approved an historic $50-million settlement that will fund cleaning up, monitoring, and preventing further pollution. It will also fund community groups, like the citizen science project Nurdle Patrol. Formosa also agreed to zero-discharge of plastic pellets going forward.
A Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.) on the Fraser RiverTwo volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, share their story of tracking down plastic pellet pollution and its source along the Fraser River in this short documentary film.
Latest community storiesA “nurdle apocalypse” in the Mississippi River
The pandemic and plastic pollution British Columbia is funding coastal communities to clean up marine debris as their typical sources of income from ecotourism decline because of COVID-19. Do you have a project or story to share? Start a project page or write a blog post and add the tag Join the conversationImage: @mollydanielsson Questions from the community
[questions:microplastics] Post an Issue BriefShare a local concern or issue related to microplastics pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “Write an Issue Brief” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. Research microplastics pollutionImage: @mollydanielsson Check out research notes and activities below to see how community members are investigating microplastics or to post your own ideas or stories. Further below, you’ll find more information on how you can get started in microplastics research. Research notesPosts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with [notes:microplastics] ActivitiesActivities on Public Lab that have been tagged with [activities:microplastics] Overview of approaches and preparing for researchImage: @warren
Cheaper and more readily available approaches:
Collecting by hand or with an inexpensive filter or net and visually analyzing the sample to identify, count, and photograph microplastics. More expensive and precise approaches: Collecting by research-grade net or filter and analyzing with visual and chemical techniques to identify the make up of microplastics and their concentration in the environment. Methods for monitoring microplasticsBelow you’ll find information on how you can get started in microplastics monitoring in your community, with a focus on more readily available tools. The process is broken down into sampling, processing, analyzing data, and what to do with your data. Detailed posts on methods published on Public Lab and tagged with Do you have a tool or method to share? Start a method page and add the tag Collecting your sampleAre you near a coastal beach? A freshwater stream? A city canal? There are ways to collect microplastics in all these places. Common locations where you might sample microplastics:
General sampling advice:
Survey a beach or shoreline and pick up by hand
Timed nurdle survey
Image: hockadilly, CC BY SA
Larger microplastics sampling on a riverbank
Beach transect surveys
Image: NOAA, public domain
Cleaning up a nurdle spillA post from @eustatic that outlines different ways to clean up nurdles: Sweep and Pan vs Scoop and Sift: Methods for Nurdle Retrieval. Some of these methods and tools could probably be incorporated into other survey methods described above. Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA
Collect from water using a surface trawlSurface trawls generally consist of a net or filter attached to a rigid frame, which is attached to a rope. The net captures items from the water. Do you have to know where the microplastics are before trawling? Not necessarily! Biased trawl: if you sample through a specific location where you see visible trash pollution. Why might you use a trawl rather than just an aquarium net with a handle? The attached rope enables you to tow the net from behind a boat in open water, tie the net to a tree or stake if you’re sampling a river, or dangle the net from a bridge or broomstick if you’re sampling a canal or shoreline.
BabyLegs
Image: Dave Howell for MEOPAR
Bridge Trawl
Image: @TestOurWaters, CC BY SA
Ice Cream Scoop Trawl
Image: CLEAR Dairy Queens, CC BY
Plastic Pirates sampling protocol for larger floating microplastics
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC
Research grade surface trawlsThese trawls usually aren’t readily available to most people but are included here to show the breadth of tools out there.
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC Collect from water using a container: “grab sample”To do a grab sample, you fill a non-plastic container with a known volume of surface water and filter the sample later to analyze it. You can use this method to sample a greater range of locations and smaller microplastics than surface trawls, with lower-cost equipment. Processing and analyzing the sample will likely need laboratory equipment, especially if you’re looking for microplastics smaller than 1 mm in size. Check out this paper for a description of the procedure: Barrows et al. 2017. Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Analytical Methods, 9: 1446-1453. PDF.
Processing your sampleIf you used a net or filter to collect microplastics, next you’ll process your sample. This means removing the materials from your filter and drying them so you can analyze them further. See the note How to process microplastic samples from a trawl from @maxliboiron for instructions using readily accessible materials.
Analyzing your sampleIf you need to sort through your dried sample to identify, isolate, and count microplastics, read on for information on how you can analyze your sample. Step-by-step how to analyze your sample forensically: This post from @maxliboiron includes a list of readily available materials, easy-to-follow instructions, tips on identifying microplastics, and lots of photos of different kinds of microplastics. More involved analysis methods that require lab equipment are described in “Laboratory methods for the analysis of microplastics in the marine environment: recommendations for quantifying synthetic particles in waters and sediments,” from the US NOAA Marine Debris program.
Resources on materials and tools for analysisIdentification guides Visual guides that can help you tell what’s plastic and what’s not, and what kinds of plastic you have.
Dissecting scope A low-magnification dissecting scope can be helpful for viewing and analyzing microplastics. Image by @warren, originally in the post, “Can the Community Microscope analyze ocean microplastics?” Build a low-magnification "dissection microscope" for microplastics: this post by @warren gives step-by-step instructions on how to adapt the Community Microscope (which you can buy here) into a dissecting scope! The key is to have a light source and lens on the same side, pointing down toward your plastic sample sitting on top of a slide or small tray. Have you used an adapted Community Microscope to look at microplastics? Please share a research note with your images!
Other assorted items
What the data can look like
Analysis methods for peer-reviewed researchInstruments that use spectrometry (like Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy) measure how infrared light interacts with and reflects off a material, producing a spectral image unique to that material. Comparing spectra from your sample material to spectra from known polymer materials can reveal the chemical makeup of microplastics in your sample. These instruments are often expensive, but check out the links below for open source, cheaper options! Open source tools for spectrometry
Do you have open source tools of your own? Post them here! What can you do with your data?You’ve collected microplastics, processed and analyzed them, and now you have data! What can you do with it? Reporting nurdle / plastic pellet counts
Reporting all marine debris
Do you know about other databases for reporting microplastic pollution, or are you interested in creating an open database? See the next step challenges below, or share your ideas in a research note!
Emerging methods and technologiesWhere is microplastics monitoring going next? If you’re interested in developing community tools for microplastics research, this section might offer some ideas on what work is happening. Techniques for quickly analyzing large amounts of microplastics Known as “high-throughput techniques.” Technical labs will carry out the techniques, but eventually, individuals and communities may be able to collect a microplastics sample and then send it to the lab for affordable analysis. More standards on plastic pollution research methods and reporting Microplastics research is a quickly-growing field! And there are many ways to collect, prepare, and analyze samples. Having common protocols for monitoring and reporting on microplastics will help make it easier for everyone to share and compare data.
Regulations, policy, and advocacyFederal regulationsWhat regulations exist, what agencies are in charge, and how does enforcement work or not work?
A success story from Nurdle Patrol! Quoting Jace Tunnell of Nurdle Patrol and his collaborators in Texas:
(Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0)
What’s happening in microplastics regulationCalifornia leads the way in regulating microplastics in drinking water
What advocacy can communities do?Do you have ideas on what advocacy communities can do with microplastics data they gather? Or a story to share on how you’ve dealt with this issue? Post a research note and it’ll appear in the Research Notes grid above! Further reading and resourcesAdditional resources
Further reading
Next step challengesWhat are some areas where microplastics monitoring and tool development could improve or go next? What questions remain? A place for open community data?
Standardized methods for everyone
Microplastics monitoring in air and soil
Do you have anything to share about these challenges? Ideas on how to approach them? Or want to discuss other challenges not included here? Please post a research note and link it here! Image: @mollydanielsson |
Revert | |
| 7 | bhamster |
September 22, 2020 14:48
| over 3 years ago
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long. Some microplastics start out small, like industrial plastic pellets used to make plastic products, or microbeads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste [1]. Other microplastics result from large pieces of plastic breaking down. Tumbling around in water or on land, exposure to sunlight, and interactions with living things can break down plastic materials into smaller microplastics [2]. Small fragments of plastic water bottles, fibers from fleece clothing, frayed pieces of nylon rope—these can all be microplastics. They never go away, they just get smaller and smaller. Microplastics are made of materials called polymers, and these polymers commonly come from refined oil and gas. Especially prevalent as pollution in the environment are polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. How can microplastics pollution affect our communities? You might have already heard that microplastics are a problem. They’re polluting our oceans and our coasts, but they’re also in rivers and city canals, in drinking water, and in our seafood—microplastics pollution is a local problem affecting environmental and public health. Microplastics have the potential to harm human health because they easily absorb toxic chemicals. If we drink water containing microplastics or eat seafood that’s ingested microplastics, we’re exposing ourselves to those chemicals, too [3]. Communities with close connections to water as a source of food have the potential to experience greater impacts from microplastics pollution. This page is a place to collect and organize resources on microplastics pollution and monitoring. Visit the microplastics tag page to see the latest community posts about microplastics on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by subscribing: Sources: [1] NOAA, what are microplastics? [2] Masura et al. 2015 [3] Karbalaei et al. 2018 Lead image from @maxliboiron's work
On this page you can:
See community stories and projects on microplastics Join the conversation
Find further reading and resources on microplastics See what’s still unknown and next step challenges in microplastics monitoring Community stories and projectsImage from Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0. Lavaca Bay residents win $50-million settlement with Formosa PlasticsWhat was the issue? In 2009, Diane Wilson, an environmental activist and retired shrimper in Seadrift, Texas, noticed hundreds of small plastic pellets (nurdles) polluting the shores and waterways of Lavaca Bay on the Gulf Coast. The area is home to a generations-old fishing community, tourism industry, and a plastic pellet manufacturing plant run by Formosa Plastics. How did they research the issue? Diane and other local residents, including former Formosa plant workers and members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, went out on foot and by kayak to collect plastic pellets by hand, visiting multiple sites, several times a week, over several years. They teamed up with an environmental scientist who wrote a report documenting the pollution, outlining its potential harm on the ecosystem, and recommending that Formosa stop releasing pellets immediately and monitor their outfalls into the Bay. And, they worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who provided free legal services. Using data from another citizen initiative to document plastic pellet pollution along the Gulf Coast, Diane and the Lavaca Bay residents could show that the highest pellet counts occurred near the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort. What did they do with their findings? Over the years, Diane appealed to state regulators, the EPA, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Despite a $13-million fine in 2009, Formosa continued to illegally dump plastic pellets into local waters. The residents eventually amassed over 2000 samples of plastic pellets and powder, storing them in large bins and cardboard boxes as evidence of illegal dumping. As Formosa continued to pollute the Bay and regulators failed to enforce compliance, in 2017, Diane and the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers sued Formosa in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act. The judge approved an historic $50-million settlement that will fund cleaning up, monitoring, and preventing further pollution. It will also fund community groups, like the citizen science project Nurdle Patrol. Formosa also agreed to zero-discharge of plastic pellets going forward.
A Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.) on the Fraser RiverTwo volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, share their story of tracking down plastic pellet pollution and its source along the Fraser River in this short documentary film.
Latest community storiesA “nurdle apocalypse” in the Mississippi River
The pandemic and plastic pollution British Columbia is funding coastal communities to clean up marine debris as their typical sources of income from ecotourism decline because of COVID-19. Do you have a project or story to share? Start a project page or write a blog post and add the tag Join the conversationImage: @mollydanielsson Questions from the community
[questions:microplastics] Post an Issue BriefShare a local concern or issue related to microplastics pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “Write an Issue Brief” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. Research microplastics pollutionImage: @mollydanielsson Check out research notes and activities below to see how community members are investigating microplastics or to post your own ideas or stories. Further below, you’ll find more information on how you can get started in microplastics research. Research notesPosts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with [notes:microplastics] ActivitiesActivities on Public Lab that have been tagged with [activities:microplastics] Overview of approaches and preparing for researchImage: @warren
Cheaper and more readily available approaches:
Collecting by hand or with an inexpensive filter or net and visually analyzing the sample to identify, count, and photograph microplastics. More expensive and precise approaches: Collecting by research-grade net or filter and analyzing with visual and chemical techniques to identify the make up of microplastics and their concentration in the environment. Methods for monitoring microplasticsBelow you’ll find information on how you can get started in microplastics monitoring in your community, with a focus on more readily available tools. The process is broken down into sampling, processing, analyzing data, and what to do with your data. Detailed posts on methods published on Public Lab and tagged with Do you have a tool or method to share? Start a method page and add the tag Collecting your sampleAre you near a coastal beach? A freshwater stream? A city canal? There are ways to collect microplastics in all these places. Common locations where you might sample microplastics:
General sampling advice:
Survey a beach or shoreline and pick up by hand
Timed nurdle survey
Image: hockadilly, CC BY SA
Larger microplastics sampling on a riverbank
Beach transect surveys
Image: NOAA, public domain
Cleaning up a nurdle spillA post from @eustatic that outlines different ways to clean up nurdles: Sweep and Pan vs Scoop and Sift: Methods for Nurdle Retrieval. Some of these methods and tools could probably be incorporated into other survey methods described above. Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA
Collect from water using a surface trawlSurface trawls generally consist of a net or filter attached to a rigid frame, which is attached to a rope. The net captures items from the water. Do you have to know where the microplastics are before trawling? Not necessarily! Biased trawl: if you sample through a specific location where you see visible trash pollution. Why might you use a trawl rather than just an aquarium net with a handle? The attached rope enables you to tow the net from behind a boat in open water, tie the net to a tree or stake if you’re sampling a river, or dangle the net from a bridge or broomstick if you’re sampling a canal or shoreline.
BabyLegs
Image: Dave Howell for MEOPAR
Bridge Trawl
Image: @TestOurWaters, CC BY SA
Ice Cream Scoop Trawl
Image: CLEAR Dairy Queens, CC BY
Plastic Pirates sampling protocol for larger floating microplastics
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC
Research grade surface trawlsThese trawls usually aren’t readily available to most people but are included here to show the breadth of tools out there.
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC Collect from water using a container: “grab sample”To do a grab sample, you fill a non-plastic container with a known volume of surface water and filter the sample later to analyze it. You can use this method to sample a greater range of locations and smaller microplastics than surface trawls, with lower-cost equipment. Processing and analyzing the sample will likely need laboratory equipment, especially if you’re looking for microplastics smaller than 1 mm in size. Check out this paper for a description of the procedure: Barrows et al. 2017. Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Analytical Methods, 9: 1446-1453. PDF.
Processing your sampleIf you used a net or filter to collect microplastics, next you’ll process your sample. This means removing the materials from your filter and drying them so you can analyze them further. See the note How to process microplastic samples from a trawl from @maxliboiron for instructions using readily accessible materials.
Analyzing your sampleIf you need to sort through your dried sample to identify, isolate, and count microplastics, read on for information on how you can analyze your sample. Step-by-step how to analyze your sample forensically: This post from @maxliboiron includes a list of readily available materials, easy-to-follow instructions, tips on identifying microplastics, and lots of photos of different kinds of microplastics. More involved analysis methods that require lab equipment are described in “Laboratory methods for the analysis of microplastics in the marine environment: recommendations for quantifying synthetic particles in waters and sediments,” from the US NOAA Marine Debris program.
Resources on materials and tools for analysisIdentification guides Visual guides that can help you tell what’s plastic and what’s not, and what kinds of plastic you have.
Dissecting scope A low-magnification dissecting scope can be helpful for viewing and analyzing microplastics. Image by @warren, originally in the post, “Can the Community Microscope analyze ocean microplastics?” Build a low-magnification "dissection microscope" for microplastics: this post by @warren gives step-by-step instructions on how to adapt the Community Microscope (which you can buy here) into a dissecting scope! The key is to have a light source and lens on the same side, pointing down toward your plastic sample sitting on top of a slide or small tray. Have you used an adapted Community Microscope to look at microplastics? Please share a research note with your images!
Other assorted items
What the data can look like
Analysis methods for peer-reviewed researchInstruments that use spectrometry (like Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy) measure how infrared light interacts with and reflects off a material, producing a spectral image unique to that material. Comparing spectra from your sample material to spectra from known polymer materials can reveal the chemical makeup of microplastics in your sample. These instruments are often expensive, but check out the links below for open source, cheaper options! Open source tools for spectrometry
Do you have open source tools of your own? Post them here! What can you do with your data?You’ve collected microplastics, processed and analyzed them, and now you have data! What can you do with it? Reporting nurdle / plastic pellet counts
Reporting all marine debris
Do you know about other databases for reporting microplastic pollution, or are you interested in creating an open database? See the next step challenges below, or share your ideas in a research note!
Emerging methods and technologiesWhere is microplastics monitoring going next? If you’re interested in developing community tools for microplastics research, this section might offer some ideas on what work is happening. Techniques for quickly analyzing large amounts of microplastics Known as “high-throughput techniques.” Technical labs will carry out the techniques, but eventually, individuals and communities may be able to collect a microplastics sample and then send it to the lab for affordable analysis. More standards on plastic pollution research methods and reporting Microplastics research is a quickly-growing field! And there are many ways to collect, prepare, and analyze samples. Having common protocols for monitoring and reporting on microplastics will help make it easier for everyone to share and compare data.
Regulations, policy, and advocacyFederal regulationsWhat regulations exist, what agencies are in charge, and how does enforcement work or not work?
A success story from Nurdle Patrol! Quoting Jace Tunnell of Nurdle Patrol and his collaborators in Texas:
(Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0)
What’s happening in microplastics regulationCalifornia leads the way in regulating microplastics in drinking water
What advocacy can communities do?Do you have ideas on what advocacy communities can do with microplastics data they gather? Or a story to share on how you’ve dealt with this issue? Post a research note and it’ll appear in the Research Notes grid above! Further reading and resourcesAdditional resources
Further reading
Next step challengesWhat are some areas where microplastics monitoring and tool development could improve or go next? What questions remain? A place for open community data?
Standardized methods for everyone
Microplastics monitoring in air and soil
Do you have anything to share about these challenges? Ideas on how to approach them? Or want to discuss other challenges not included here? Please post a research note and link it here! Image: @mollydanielsson |
Revert | |
| 6 | bhamster |
September 21, 2020 15:09
| over 3 years ago
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long. Some microplastics start out small, like industrial plastic pellets used to make plastic products, or microbeads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste [1]. Other microplastics result from large pieces of plastic breaking down. Tumbling around in water or on land, exposure to sunlight, and interactions with living things can break down plastic materials into smaller microplastics [2]. Small fragments of plastic water bottles, fibers from fleece clothing, frayed pieces of nylon rope—these can all be microplastics. They never go away, they just get smaller and smaller. Microplastics are made of materials called polymers, and these polymers commonly come from refined oil and gas. Especially prevalent as pollution in the environment are polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. How can microplastics pollution affect our communities? You might have already heard that microplastics are a problem. They’re polluting our oceans and our coasts, but they’re also in rivers and city canals, in drinking water, and in our seafood—microplastics pollution is a local problem affecting environmental and public health. Microplastics have the potential to harm human health because they easily absorb toxic chemicals. If we drink water containing microplastics or eat seafood that’s ingested microplastics, we’re exposing ourselves to those chemicals, too [3]. Communities with close connections to water as a source of food have the potential to experience greater impacts from microplastics pollution. This page is a place to collect and organize resources on microplastics pollution and monitoring. Visit the microplastics tag page to see the latest community posts about microplastics on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by subscribing: Sources: [1] NOAA, what are microplastics? [2] Masura et al. 2015 [3] Karbalaei et al. 2018 Lead image from @maxliboiron's work
On this page you can:
See community stories and projects on microplastics Join the conversation
Find further reading and resources on microplastics See what’s still unknown and next step challenges in microplastics monitoring Community stories and projectsImage from Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0. Lavaca Bay residents win $50-million settlement with Formosa PlasticsWhat was the issue? In 2009, Diane Wilson, an environmental activist and retired shrimper in Seadrift, Texas, noticed hundreds of small plastic pellets (nurdles) polluting the shores and waterways of Lavaca Bay on the Gulf Coast. The area is home to a generations-old fishing community, tourism industry, and a plastic pellet manufacturing plant run by Formosa Plastics. How did they research the issue? Diane and other local residents, including former Formosa plant workers and members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, went out on foot and by kayak to collect plastic pellets by hand, visiting multiple sites, several times a week, over several years. They teamed up with an environmental scientist who wrote a report documenting the pollution, outlining its potential harm on the ecosystem, and recommending that Formosa stop releasing pellets immediately and monitor their outfalls into the Bay. And, they worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who provided free legal services. Using data from another citizen initiative to document plastic pellet pollution along the Gulf Coast, Diane and the Lavaca Bay residents could show that the highest pellet counts occurred near the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort. What did they do with their findings? Over the years, Diane appealed to state regulators, the EPA, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Despite a $13-million fine in 2009, Formosa continued to illegally dump plastic pellets into local waters. The residents eventually amassed over 2000 samples of plastic pellets and powder, storing them in large bins and cardboard boxes as evidence of illegal dumping. As Formosa continued to pollute the Bay and regulators failed to enforce compliance, in 2017, Diane and the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers sued Formosa in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act. The judge approved an historic $50-million settlement that will fund cleaning up, monitoring, and preventing further pollution. It will also fund community groups, like the citizen science project Nurdle Patrol. Formosa also agreed to zero-discharge of plastic pellets going forward.
A Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.) on the Fraser RiverTwo volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, share their story of tracking down plastic pellet pollution and its source along the Fraser River in this short documentary film.
Latest community storiesA “nurdle apocalypse” in the Mississippi River
The pandemic and plastic pollution British Columbia is funding coastal communities to clean up marine debris as their typical sources of income from ecotourism decline because of COVID-19. Do you have a project or story to share? Start a project page or write a blog post and add the tag Join the conversationImage: @mollydanielsson Questions from the community
[questions:microplastics] Post an Issue BriefShare a local concern or issue related to microplastics pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “Write an Issue Brief” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. Research microplastics pollutionImage: @mollydanielsson Check out research notes and activities below to see how community members are investigating microplastics or to post your own ideas or stories. Further below, you’ll find more information on how you can get started in microplastics research. Research notesPosts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with [notes:microplastics] ActivitiesActivities on Public Lab that have been tagged with [activities:microplastics] Overview of approaches and preparing for researchImage: @warren
Cheaper and more readily available approaches:
Collecting by hand or with an inexpensive filter or net and visually analyzing the sample to identify, count, and photograph microplastics. More expensive and precise approaches: Collecting by research-grade net or filter and analyzing with visual and chemical techniques to identify the make up of microplastics and their concentration in the environment. Methods for monitoring microplasticsBelow you’ll find information on how you can get started in microplastics monitoring in your community, with a focus on more readily available tools. The process is broken down into sampling, processing, analyzing data, and what to do with your data. Detailed posts on methods published on Public Lab and tagged with Do you have a tool or method to share? Start a method page and add the tag Collecting your sampleAre you near a coastal beach? A freshwater stream? A city canal? There are ways to collect microplastics in all these places. Common locations where you might sample microplastics:
General sampling advice:
Survey a beach or shoreline and pick up by hand
Timed nurdle survey
Image: hockadilly, CC BY SA
Larger microplastics sampling on a riverbank
Beach transect surveys
Image: NOAA, public domain
Cleaning up a nurdle spillA post from @eustatic that outlines different ways to clean up nurdles: Sweep and Pan vs Scoop and Sift: Methods for Nurdle Retrieval. Some of these methods and tools could probably be incorporated into other survey methods described above. Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA
Collect from water using a surface trawlSurface trawls generally consist of a net or filter attached to a rigid frame, which is attached to a rope. The net captures items from the water. Do you have to know where the microplastics are before trawling? Not necessarily! Biased trawl: if you sample through a specific location where you see visible trash pollution. Why might you use a trawl rather than just an aquarium net with a handle? The attached rope enables you to tow the net from behind a boat in open water, tie the net to a tree or stake if you’re sampling a river, or dangle the net from a bridge or broomstick if you’re sampling a canal or shoreline.
BabyLegs
Image: @maxliboiron, CC BY SA
Bridge Trawl
Image: @TestOurWaters, CC BY SA
Ice Cream Scoop Trawl
Image: CLEAR Dairy Queens, CC BY
Plastic Pirates sampling protocol for larger floating microplastics
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC
Research grade surface trawlsThese trawls usually aren’t readily available to most people but are included here to show the breadth of tools out there.
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC Collect from water using a container: “grab sample”To do a grab sample, you fill a non-plastic container with a known volume of surface water and filter the sample later to analyze it. You can use this method to sample a greater range of locations and smaller microplastics than surface trawls, with lower-cost equipment. Processing and analyzing the sample will likely need laboratory equipment, especially if you’re looking for microplastics smaller than 1 mm in size. Check out this paper for a description of the procedure: Barrows et al. 2017. Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Analytical Methods, 9: 1446-1453. PDF.
Processing your sampleIf you used a net or filter to collect microplastics, next you’ll process your sample. This means removing the materials from your filter and drying them so you can analyze them further. See the note How to process microplastic samples from a trawl from @maxliboiron for instructions using readily accessible materials.
Analyzing your sampleIf you need to sort through your dried sample to identify, isolate, and count microplastics, read on for information on how you can analyze your sample. Step-by-step how to analyze your sample forensically: This post from @maxliboiron includes a list of readily available materials, easy-to-follow instructions, tips on identifying microplastics, and lots of photos of different kinds of microplastics. More involved analysis methods that require lab equipment are described in “Laboratory methods for the analysis of microplastics in the marine environment: recommendations for quantifying synthetic particles in waters and sediments,” from the US NOAA Marine Debris program.
Resources on materials and tools for analysisIdentification guides Visual guides that can help you tell what’s plastic and what’s not, and what kinds of plastic you have.
Dissecting scope A low-magnification dissecting scope can be helpful for viewing and analyzing microplastics. Image by @warren, originally in the post, “Can the Community Microscope analyze ocean microplastics?” Build a low-magnification "dissection microscope" for microplastics: this post by @warren gives step-by-step instructions on how to adapt the Community Microscope (which you can buy here) into a dissecting scope! The key is to have a light source and lens on the same side, pointing down toward your plastic sample sitting on top of a slide or small tray. Have you used an adapted Community Microscope to look at microplastics? Please share a research note with your images!
Other assorted items
What the data can look like
Analysis methods for peer-reviewed researchInstruments that use spectrometry (like Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy) measure how infrared light interacts with and reflects off a material, producing a spectral image unique to that material. Comparing spectra from your sample material to spectra from known polymer materials can reveal the chemical makeup of microplastics in your sample. These instruments are often expensive, but check out the links below for open source, cheaper options! Open source tools for spectrometry
Do you have open source tools of your own? Post them here! What can you do with your data?You’ve collected microplastics, processed and analyzed them, and now you have data! What can you do with it? Reporting nurdle / plastic pellet counts
Reporting all marine debris
Do you know about other databases for reporting microplastic pollution, or are you interested in creating an open database? See the next step challenges below, or share your ideas in a research note!
Emerging methods and technologiesWhere is microplastics monitoring going next? If you’re interested in developing community tools for microplastics research, this section might offer some ideas on what work is happening. Techniques for quickly analyzing large amounts of microplastics Known as “high-throughput techniques.” Technical labs will carry out the techniques, but eventually, individuals and communities may be able to collect a microplastics sample and then send it to the lab for affordable analysis. More standards on plastic pollution research methods and reporting Microplastics research is a quickly-growing field! And there are many ways to collect, prepare, and analyze samples. Having common protocols for monitoring and reporting on microplastics will help make it easier for everyone to share and compare data.
Regulations, policy, and advocacyFederal regulationsWhat regulations exist, what agencies are in charge, and how does enforcement work or not work?
A success story from Nurdle Patrol! Quoting Jace Tunnell of Nurdle Patrol and his collaborators in Texas:
(Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0)
What’s happening in microplastics regulationCalifornia leads the way in regulating microplastics in drinking water
What advocacy can communities do?Do you have ideas on what advocacy communities can do with microplastics data they gather? Or a story to share on how you’ve dealt with this issue? Post a research note and it’ll appear in the Research Notes grid above! Further reading and resourcesAdditional resources
Further reading
Next step challengesWhat are some areas where microplastics monitoring and tool development could improve or go next? What questions remain? A place for open community data?
Standardized methods for everyone
Microplastics monitoring in air and soil
Do you have anything to share about these challenges? Ideas on how to approach them? Or want to discuss other challenges not included here? Please post a research note and link it here! Image: @mollydanielsson |
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| 5 | bhamster |
September 21, 2020 15:07
| over 3 years ago
Microplastics are small pieces of plastic less than 5 millimeters long. Some microplastics start out small, like industrial plastic pellets used to make plastic products, or microbeads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste [1]. Other microplastics result from large pieces of plastic breaking down. Tumbling around in water or on land, exposure to sunlight, and interactions with living things can break down plastic materials into smaller microplastics [2]. Small fragments of plastic water bottles, fibers from fleece clothing, frayed pieces of nylon rope—these can all be microplastics. They never go away, they just get smaller and smaller. Microplastics are made of materials called polymers, and these polymers commonly come from refined oil and gas. Especially prevalent as pollution in the environment are polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. How can microplastics pollution affect our communities? You might have already heard that microplastics are a problem. They’re polluting our oceans and our coasts, but they’re also in rivers and city canals, in drinking water, and in our seafood—microplastics pollution is a local problem affecting environmental and public health. Microplastics have the potential to harm human health because they easily absorb toxic chemicals. If we drink water containing microplastics or eat seafood that’s ingested microplastics, we’re exposing ourselves to those chemicals, too [3]. Communities with close connections to water as a source of food have the potential to experience greater impacts from microplastics pollution. This page is a place to collect and organize resources on microplastics pollution and monitoring. Visit the microplastics tag page to see the latest community posts about microplastics on Public Lab, and get updates on this topic by subscribing: Sources: [1] NOAA, what are microplastics? [2] Masura et al. 2015 [3] Karbalaei et al. 2018 Lead image from @maxliboiron's work
On this page you can:
See community stories and projects on microplastics Join the conversation
Find further reading and resources on microplastics See what’s still unknown and next step challenges in microplastics monitoring Community stories and projectsImage from Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0. Lavaca Bay residents win $50-million settlement with Formosa PlasticsWhat was the issue? In 2009, Diane Wilson, an environmental activist and retired shrimper in Seadrift, Texas, noticed hundreds of small plastic pellets (nurdles) polluting the shores and waterways of Lavaca Bay on the Gulf Coast. The area is home to a generations-old fishing community, tourism industry, and a plastic pellet manufacturing plant run by Formosa Plastics. How did they research the issue? Diane and other local residents, including former Formosa plant workers and members of the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeeper, went out on foot and by kayak to collect plastic pellets by hand, visiting multiple sites, several times a week, over several years. They teamed up with an environmental scientist who wrote a report documenting the pollution, outlining its potential harm on the ecosystem, and recommending that Formosa stop releasing pellets immediately and monitor their outfalls into the Bay. And, they worked with Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, who provided free legal services. Using data from another citizen initiative to document plastic pellet pollution along the Gulf Coast, Diane and the Lavaca Bay residents could show that the highest pellet counts occurred near the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort. What did they do with their findings? Over the years, Diane appealed to state regulators, the EPA, and the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Despite a $13-million fine in 2009, Formosa continued to illegally dump plastic pellets into local waters. The residents eventually amassed over 2000 samples of plastic pellets and powder, storing them in large bins and cardboard boxes as evidence of illegal dumping. As Formosa continued to pollute the Bay and regulators failed to enforce compliance, in 2017, Diane and the San Antonio Bay Estuarine Waterkeepers sued Formosa in federal court for violating the Clean Water Act. The judge approved an historic $50-million settlement that will fund cleaning up, monitoring, and preventing further pollution. It will also fund community groups, like the citizen science project Nurdle Patrol. Formosa also agreed to zero-discharge of plastic pellets going forward.
A Solidified Oil Spill (S.O.S.) on the Fraser RiverTwo volunteers from the Surfrider Foundation of Vancouver Island, BC, Canada, share their story of tracking down plastic pellet pollution and its source along the Fraser River in this short documentary film.
Latest community storiesA “nurdle apocalypse” in the Mississippi River
The pandemic and plastic pollution British Columbia is funding coastal communities to clean up marine debris as their typical sources of income from ecotourism decline because of COVID-19. Do you have a project or story to share? Start a project page or write a blog post and add the tag Join the conversationImage: @mollydanielsson Questions from the community
[questions:microplastics] Post an Issue BriefShare a local concern or issue related to microplastics pollution and get support from the Public Lab community by writing and posting an Issue Brief. Visit “Write an Issue Brief” to find information on what an issue brief is, see examples, and learn how to write one. Research microplastics pollutionImage: @mollydanielsson Check out research notes and activities below to see how community members are investigating microplastics or to post your own ideas or stories. Further below, you’ll find more information on how you can get started in microplastics research. Research notesPosts written by Public Lab community members and tagged with [notes:microplastics] ActivitiesActivities on Public Lab that have been tagged with [activities:microplastics] Overview of approaches and preparing for researchImage: @warren
Cheaper and more readily available approaches:
Collecting by hand or with an inexpensive filter or net and visually analyzing the sample to identify, count, and photograph microplastics. More expensive and precise approaches: Collecting by research-grade net or filter and analyzing with visual and chemical techniques to identify the make up of microplastics and their concentration in the environment. Methods for monitoring microplasticsBelow you’ll find information on how you can get started in microplastics monitoring in your community, with a focus on more readily available tools. The process is broken down into sampling, processing, analyzing data, and what to do with your data. Detailed posts on methods published on Public Lab and tagged with Do you have a tool or method to share? Start a method page and add the tag Collecting your sampleAre you near a coastal beach? A freshwater stream? A city canal? There are ways to collect microplastics in all these places. Common locations where you might sample microplastics:
General sampling advice:
Survey a beach or shoreline and pick up by hand
Timed nurdle survey
Image: hockadilly, CC BY SA
Larger microplastics sampling on a riverbank
Beach transect surveys
Image: NOAA, public domain
Cleaning up a nurdle spillA post from @eustatic that outlines different ways to clean up nurdles: Sweep and Pan vs Scoop and Sift: Methods for Nurdle Retrieval. Some of these methods and tools could probably be incorporated into other survey methods described above. Image: @eustatic, CC BY SA
Collect from water using a surface trawlSurface trawls generally consist of a net or filter attached to a rigid frame, which is attached to a rope. The net captures items from the water. Do you have to know where the microplastics are before trawling? Not necessarily! Biased trawl: if you sample through a specific location where you see visible trash pollution. Why might you use a trawl rather than just an aquarium net with a handle? The attached rope enables you to tow the net from behind a boat in open water, tie the net to a tree or stake if you’re sampling a river, or dangle the net from a bridge or broomstick if you’re sampling a canal or shoreline.
BabyLegs
Image: @maxliboiron, CC BY SA
Bridge Trawl
Image: @TestOurWaters, CC BY SA
Ice Cream Scoop Trawl
Image: CLEAR Dairy Queens, CC BY
Plastic Pirates sampling protocol for larger floating microplastics
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC
Research grade surface trawlsThese trawls usually aren’t readily available to most people but are included here to show the breadth of tools out there.
Image: Will Parson/Chesapeake Bay Program, CC BY NC Collect from water using a container: “grab sample”To do a grab sample, you fill a non-plastic container with a known volume of surface water and filter the sample later to analyze it. You can use this method to sample a greater range of locations and smaller microplastics than surface trawls, with lower-cost equipment. Processing and analyzing the sample will likely need laboratory equipment, especially if you’re looking for microplastics smaller than 1 mm in size. Check out this paper for a description of the procedure: Barrows et al. 2017. Grab vs. neuston tow net: a microplastic sampling performance comparison and possible advances in the field. Analytical Methods, 9: 1446-1453. PDF.
Processing your sampleIf you used a net or filter to collect microplastics, next you’ll process your sample. This means removing the materials from your filter and drying them so you can analyze them further. See the note How to process microplastic samples from a trawl from @maxliboiron for instructions using readily accessible materials.
Analyzing your sampleIf you need to sort through your dried sample to identify, isolate, and count microplastics, read on for information on how you can analyze your sample. Step-by-step how to analyze your sample forensically: This post from @maxliboiron includes a list of readily available materials, easy-to-follow instructions, tips on identifying microplastics, and lots of photos of different kinds of microplastics. More involved analysis methods that require lab equipment are described in “Laboratory methods for the analysis of microplastics in the marine environment: recommendations for quantifying synthetic particles in waters and sediments,” from the US NOAA Marine Debris program.
Resources on materials and tools for analysisIdentification guides Visual guides that can help you tell what’s plastic and what’s not, and what kinds of plastic you have.
Dissecting scope A low-magnification dissecting scope can be helpful for viewing and analyzing microplastics. Image by @warren, originally in the post, “Can the Community Microscope analyze ocean microplastics?” Build a low-magnification "dissection microscope" for microplastics: this post by @warren gives step-by-step instructions on how to adapt the Community Microscope (which you can buy here) into a dissecting scope! The key is to have a light source and lens on the same side, pointing down toward your plastic sample sitting on top of a slide or small tray. Have you used an adapted Community Microscope to look at microplastics? Please share a research note with your images!
Other assorted items
What the data can look like
Analysis methods for peer-reviewed researchInstruments that use spectrometry (like Fourier Transform-Infrared and Raman spectroscopy) measure how infrared light interacts with and reflects off a material, producing a spectral image unique to that material. Comparing spectra from your sample material to spectra from known polymer materials can reveal the chemical makeup of microplastics in your sample. These instruments are often expensive, but check out the links below for open source, cheaper options! Open source tools for spectrometry
Do you have open source tools of your own? Post them here! What can you do with your data?You’ve collected microplastics, processed and analyzed them, and now you have data! What can you do with it? Reporting nurdle / plastic pellet counts
Reporting all marine debris
Do you know about other databases for reporting microplastic pollution, or are you interested in creating an open database? See the next step challenges below, or share your ideas in a research note!
Emerging methods and technologiesWhere is microplastics monitoring going next? If you’re interested in developing community tools for microplastics research, this section might offer some ideas on what work is happening. Techniques for quickly analyzing large amounts of microplastics Known as “high-throughput techniques.” Technical labs will carry out the techniques, but eventually, individuals and communities may be able to collect a microplastics sample and then send it to the lab for affordable analysis. More standards on plastic pollution research methods and reporting Microplastics research is a quickly-growing field! And there are many ways to collect, prepare, and analyze samples. Having common protocols for monitoring and reporting on microplastics will help make it easier for everyone to share and compare data.
Regulations, policy, and advocacyFederal regulationsWhat regulations exist, what agencies are in charge, and how does enforcement work or not work?
A success story from Nurdle Patrol! Quoting Jace Tunnell of Nurdle Patrol and his collaborators in Texas:
(Tunnell et al. 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2019.110794, CC BY 4.0)
What’s happening in microplastics regulationCalifornia leads the way in regulating microplastics in drinking water
What advocacy can communities do?Do you have ideas on what advocacy communities can do with microplastics data they gather? Or a story to share on how you’ve dealt with this issue? Post a research note and it’ll appear in the Research Notes grid above! Further reading and resourcesAdditional resources
Further reading
Next step challengesWhat are some areas where microplastics monitoring and tool development could improve or go next? What questions remain? A place for open community data?
Standardized methods for everyone
Microplastics monitoring in air and soil
Do you have anything to share about these challenges? Ideas on how to approach them? Or want to discuss other challenges not included here? Please post a research note and link it here! Image: @mollydanielsson |
Revert | |
| 4 | bhamster |
July 17, 2020 17:11
| almost 4 years ago
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long. Common sources have included larger plastic objects that break down into smaller pieces, and tiny plastic beads added to exfoliating personal care products like cleansers and toothpaste. When microplastics end up in our waterways and the ocean, they can be harmful to aquatic life. Source: NOAA, What are microplastics? Lead image from @maxliboiron's work The "BabyLegs" trawl designed by @maxliboiron is a scientifically rigorous way to collect samples of microplastics out of water, for inspection with a microscope. Questions[questions:microplastics] Activities[activities:microplastics] Research notes[notes:microplastics] |
Revert | |
| 3 | joyofsoy |
May 20, 2020 14:36
| almost 4 years ago
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. source Lead image from @maxliboiron's work The "BabyLegs" trawl designed by @maxliboiron is a scientifically rigorous way to collect samples of microplastics out of water, for inspection with a microscope. Questions[questions:microplastics] Activities[activities:microplastics] Research notes[notes:microplastics] |
Revert | |
| 2 | stevie |
November 26, 2019 19:22
| over 4 years ago
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. source Lead image from @maxliboiron's work The "BabyLegs" trawl designed by @maxliboiron is a scientifically rigorous way to collect samples of microplastics out of water, for inspection with a microscope. Questions[questions:microplastics] Activities[activities:microplastics] Research notes[notes:microplastics] |
Revert | |
| 1 | stevie |
November 26, 2019 19:22
| over 4 years ago
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. source Lead image from @maxliboiron's work The "BabyLegs" trawl designed by @maxliboiron is a scientifically rigorous way to collect samples of microplastics out of water, for inspection with a microscope. Questions[questions: microplastics] Activities[activities:microplastics] Research notes[notes:microplastics] |
Revert | |
| 0 | liz |
October 15, 2019 16:30
| over 4 years ago
Microplastics are small plastic pieces less than five millimeters long which can be harmful to our ocean and aquatic life. source Lead image from @maxliboiron's work The "BabyLegs" trawl designed by @maxliboiron is a scientifically rigorous way to collect samples of microplastics out of water, for inspection with a microscope. [questions:microplastics] [notes:microplastics] |
Revert |