Project description
Big plans to cut microplastics in freshwater sediments
After the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age … welcome to the Plastic Age! Plastic is the material that best defines today’s period. Plastic is used on a daily basis. Unfortunately, plastic pollution is increasing at an alarming rate. Emerging as an alternative, biodegradable plastics can be mineralised under certain temperature and moisture conditions. Over 28 million tonnes of plastics end up in water bodies annually. In this context, the MSCA-funded SEDIPLASTIC project will explore and provide new knowledge on the effects of microplastics (non-biodegradable and biodegradable) on freshwater sediments under global change conditions. Also, to increase our understanding of how microplastics can affect ecosystems services, the project will design a predictive model. Project outcomes will benefit academia as well as industry, government and societal well-being.
Objective
We live in the “plastic age”. Plastics are key for societal innovation and used on a daily basis. However, due to their ubiquity, persistence, inadequate management & improper waste disposal, they tend to accumulate in the environment. Besides, during their life cycle, they degrade into tiny polluting bits called microplastics (MP<5mm), considered a major environmental threat. Biodegradable plastics (BioMP) have become an alternative since they can be mineralized under certain temperature and moisture conditions. Fluvial sediments and their inherent microbial communities could potentially decompose BioMP due to their role as a nutrient recycling and its high enzymatic activity. However, how the degradation of BioMP will affect nutrient re-cycles in aquatic ecosystems, an essential ecological service, is still unknown. In addition, global change, especially, rising temperature, and hydrologic extreme events, mobilize plastics in freshwater systems and further degrading them into MPs. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop tools to assess, predict and mitigate their effects on freshwater ecosystems.
SEDIPLASTIC seeks to explore and provide new knowledge on MP (non- and biodegradable) effects on freshwater sediments under global change conditions. Sediment columns with different grain size, with/without microbial communities, and microparticles (inert, MP, BioMP) will be used. Hydrological parameters, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, bacterial biomass, viability, and functionality, and MP mobility and degradation will be analysed. Moreover, to better understand the key role of MP in freshwater sediments and how can affect ecosystems services, a predictive model will be developed using project experimental data. Project outcomes will impact beyond academia providing novel tools for industry, government, and thus societal wellbeing. It will contribute to major EU research priorities and to global efforts such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals (6, 12, & 14).
Fields of science
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwaste managementwaste treatment processesrecycling
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculturegrains and oilseeds
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsfreshwater ecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencespollution
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrologylimnology
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
17004 Girona
Spain