Plastic pollution assessment and monitoring - standardising the methods EUROqCHARM
WHAT is the EUROqCHARM project's aim?
The EUROqCHARM consortium wants to analyze and evaluate existing methodologies for plastic pollution assessment, and harmonize them on a European level. That is why the project unites 15 key actors involved in studying and monitoring plastic pollution in Europe.
WHY was this project called to life?
Plastic pollution is a well-known global issue manifesting itself in the form of beach litter, ocean garbage patches, microplastics in food, plastic dust particles in the air,... the list goes on. A well-thought-out action plan and robust strategies for combatting this issue are high on the agenda of European policymakers. However, if we want to succeed in achieving this kind of EU-wide integrated strategy, the first step is to make sure that methods, methodologies, and common practices for sampling, analysis, and reporting are 1) up to date and 2) not as divergent depending on what country is executing the research as they are now.
HOW do we hope to achieve our goals?
The necessary developments require the engagement and collaboration of researchers AND various stakeholders with a thorough understanding of the complexity arising from the wide array of polymer types and particle sizes dispersed in water, sediment and air. To this end, the EUROqCHARM initiative brings together all relevant research areas (natural sciences: marine, surface, groundwater, drinking and waste water, soil, air, analytical chemistry, etc.), industry (instrument manufacturers, plastic producers and commercial laboratories), regulators (United Nations, EU and national level, standardization bodies), professional associations and societies, policymakers (UN, EU and national level) and national and international Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs). This puts Europe in a unique position to coordinate the validation of the available methods and the development of harmonized protocols for assessing plastic contamination.
The goal of the European EUROqCHARM (EUROpean quality Controlled Harmonization Assuring Reproducible Monitoring and assessment of plastic pollution) project is to establish harmonised methodologiesfor the monitoring and assessment of macro-, micro- and nanoplastics in the environment, as well as blueprints for standards and recommendations for policy and legislation.
In short EUROqCHARM is:
a consortium with 15 EU partners
putting forward a multi-stakeholder approach
to develop cost-effective monitoring strategies
focusing on all environmental compartments: water, soil/sediment, air, and biota
targeting a broad size spectrum of plastics (nano-, micro-, macro-)
Want to stay up to date on the latest EUROqCHARM news?
The EUROqCHARM field workshop on macro- and microplastics sampling and analysis through harmonized methodologies was held from July 9th to 14th 2023 in Constanta, Romania.
EUROqCHARM researchers published an article in Nature titled "Reproducible pipelines and readiness levels in plastic monitoring". They show in their results that flexible methodology evaluation approa...
A key task within EUROqCHARM’s second work package (link to Work Package 2: Validation of methods - EUROqCHARM) is to compare selected methods for plastic pollution monitoring through an ILC study. Pr...
The second EUROqCHARM annual meeting was held in Amsterdam on the 15th of September. This was the first occasion for partners and stakeholders to physically meet and discuss the project’s progress and...
