Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EUROqCHARM (EUROpean quality Controlled Harmonization Assuring Reproducible Monitoring and assessment of plastic pollution)
Berichtszeitraum: 2020-11-01 bis 2022-04-30
Plastic pollution is a well-known global issue manifesting itself in the form of beach litter, floating in water bodies, sinking to the seafloor, as well as incorporation into soils and agricultural sediments. Microplastics have been detected in food and drink products, as well as in air samples, and they have been detected inside many species of biota. The need to address the impacts of plastic pollution is being included in European environmental regulations and the EU Plastics Strategy. However, plastic pollution research is a relatively young discipline and methodologies are continuously developing and are not yet standardised which makes tracking the evolution of environmental indicators in time or comparison in space difficult. Therefore, there is a strong need to harmonise and standardise all aspects of environmental monitoring (sampling, analysis and data treatment), with QA/QC being the driving force.
The overall objective of EUROqCHARM is to develop optimised, validated, and harmonised methods for the assessment and monitoring of plastics in the environment, as well as blueprints for standards and recommendations for policy and legislation. EUROqCHARM is working to provide support tools to assesses the state of the art in methods development and recommendations using a multi-stakeholder approach. EUROqCHARM is structured to bring together relevant stakeholders (scientists, industry, policy-makers, monitoring and regulation bodies), to enable cooperation and participation in the dialogue, decision making and implementation of solutions towards monitoring plastic pollution. EUROqCHARM is important for the implementation of the EU Plastics Strategy.
The EUROqCHARM partners, advisory board members and associated stakeholders include all relevant research areas (natural sciences devoted to marine, surface, groundwater, drinking and wastewater, soil, air; analytical chemistry, etc.), industry (instrument manufacturers, commercial laboratories and plastic producers), regulators and policy-makers (United Nations, EU and national level), standardisation bodies, professional associations and societies, and national and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). This sets EUROqCHARM in a unique position to achieve its overall objective.
The overall objective of EUROqCHARM is to develop optimised, validated, and harmonised methods for the assessment and monitoring of plastics in the environment, as well as blueprints for standards and recommendations for policy and legislation. EUROqCHARM is working to provide support tools to assesses the state of the art in methods development and recommendations using a multi-stakeholder approach. EUROqCHARM is structured to bring together relevant stakeholders (scientists, industry, policy-makers, monitoring and regulation bodies), to enable cooperation and participation in the dialogue, decision making and implementation of solutions towards monitoring plastic pollution. EUROqCHARM is important for the implementation of the EU Plastics Strategy.
The EUROqCHARM partners, advisory board members and associated stakeholders include all relevant research areas (natural sciences devoted to marine, surface, groundwater, drinking and wastewater, soil, air; analytical chemistry, etc.), industry (instrument manufacturers, commercial laboratories and plastic producers), regulators and policy-makers (United Nations, EU and national level), standardisation bodies, professional associations and societies, and national and international Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). This sets EUROqCHARM in a unique position to achieve its overall objective.
So far, EUROqCHARM has been active across three of its scientific WPs and all three management, coordination and support WPs. The first three WPs are content generating, building on each other, and therefore becoming progressively more active and communications relevant, as the project timeline advances. WP1 has been completed through a substantial systematic review of literature, the identification of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAPs) for the analysis of plastic in our environment SWOT analysis on each element of the identified RAPs, and the suggestion of Technical Readiness Levels (TRLs) for each RAP. The combination of RAPs, SWOTs and TRLs is a novel and innovative approach for monitoring plastics in the environment and the concept demonstrates how robust and replicable information can be used to support the global assessment of plastic pollution in a harmonised way. This information is being made available to European and international expert laboratories performing environmental plastic analysis. WP2 is validating methods for use in monitoring plastics in several environmental matrices and to internationally harmonise the sample workflow from preparation to analysis and data reporting. Based on the TRL assessment, WP2 has focused on the identification and production of microplastic candidate reference materials for use in a European interlaboratory comparison (ILC) study. As of April 2022, more than 90 laboratories have signed up and received samples for analysis. WP3 relies on the outputs of WP1 and WP2 for further implementation whereby outputs can be used by stakeholders to formulate and implement policy and legislation. WP3 partners have been involved in multiple parallel activities within national, European and international working groups and intersessional groups. This includes monitoring frameworks (MSFD-TGML, ICES, OSPAR, HELCOM, AMAP, GESAMP, G7) as well as standardisation bodies (CEN, ISO, DIN, NEN). The Communication and Dissemination WP (WP5) has facilitated EUROqCHARM stakeholder events, and produced three newsletters since the start of the project. Partners have also been engaging in dissemination activities including webinars, presentations, conference posters, EU cluster meetings, press releases, and social media interactions. The EUROqCHARM approach highlights the importance of communication and dissemination activities to engage stakeholders early in the project’s life.
EUROqCHARM has already begun impacting EU and international policy on plastic pollution by informing and supporting activities of the MSFD-TGML towards the objectives of EU Plastics Strategy as well as fostering innovative policy making. EUROqCHARM has developed an innovative approach to support the identification of technical guidelines using the novel and combined approach of Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAPs), SWOT analysis, and Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs), and has disseminated outputs thus far to the expert working groups within monitoring and standardisation. This has specifically been used for the development of two standard methods for the determination of microplastics in water samples and solid matrices. This state of the art, uniform tool can be used to support monitoring and regulatory decisions, with synchronisation across EU member states. EUROqCHARM has taken the harmonisation microplastics analysis in environmental samples one step further by giving the participants in the Interlaboratory Comparison (ILC) study detailed information on the RAP procedures reaching a high enough TRL level. This facilitates the comparability of results from the different laboratories, evaluates the state of the art, and suitability for large scale monitoring efforts. Currently, no reference material for microplastics exist. EUROqCHARM has carefully designed reference materials and produced them for the ILC. These candidate reference materials will be produced on a larger scale and made commercially available. This will be a big step forward in the necessary Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) of microplastic analysis in environmental samples. EUROqCHARM has also systematically mapped plastic pollution monitoring and assessed stakeholders to identify the project’s target audience and engage with them through different channels and activities. As described in the project’s Communication Strategy and Dissemination Plan, this audience will be further consolidated during the remainder of the project life and potentially evolve into a community that will continue cooperating beyond the end of the project’s life cycle.