Zero Waste Week 2024: Fighting plastic pollution with the help of VU research

Cleaning up without messing up: maximizing the benefits of plastic clean-up technologies through new regulatory approaches by Hanna Dijkstra and others.

Key findings:

• Plastic is the main constituent of anthropogenic litter on British beaches and the majority of traceable items originate from land-based sources, such as public littering.
• The implementation of plastic clean-up technologies should be regulated to secure their net benefits and to avoid unintended negative consequences.
• Currently negotiated global plastic treaty should include language and guidance on ensuring clean-ups of existing plastics in an environmentally sound manner.

Falk-Andersson, J., Rognerud, I., De Frond, H., Leone, G., Karasik, R., Diana, Z., ... & Fürst, K. (2023). Cleaning up without messing up: maximizing the benefits of plastic clean-up technologies through new regulatory approaches. Environmental Science & Technology, 57(36), 13304-13312 [link]

In the business of dirty oceans: Overview of startups and entrepreneurs managing marine plastic by Hanna Dijkstra, Pieter van Beukering, and Roy Brouwer

Key findings:

• Managing plastic pollution will not depend on a ‘silver bullet’ solution but instead on advances on multiple fronts, gradually and experimentally working towards more sustainable plastic management.
• Through innovative business models, small businesses are successfully commercializing goods and services to reduce the damage of plastics on the marine environment.
• Numerous accelerators, incubators, grants and innovation awards have been dedicated to the issue of marine plastic pollution, yet, efforts are still underdeveloped in many areas, including microplastic management and monitoring.

Dijkstra, H., van Beukering, P., & Brouwer, R. (2021). In the business of dirty oceans: Overview of startups and entrepreneurs managing marine plastic. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 162, 111880 [link]

Assessing the performance of marine plastics cleanup technologies in Europe and North America by Roy Brouwer, Hanna Dijkstra, Pieter van Beukering, and others.

Key findings:

• Preventing floatable plastics from entering the water through drainage systems is a much cheaper solution than trying to capture and remove them afterwards. Beach cleanup is also a relatively cheaper solution.
• Mobile skimmers and dredgers are the most cost-effective technologies to remove plastic litter from water.
• Local policy and decision-maker input is indispensable in determining the most effective technologies to implement.

Brouwer, R., Huang, Y., Huizenga, T., Frantzi, S., Le, T., Sandler, J., ... & Piazza, V. (2023). Assessing the performance of marine plastics cleanup technologies in Europe and North America. Ocean & Coastal Management, 238, 106555 [link]

Shipping spills and plastic pollution: A review of maritime governance in the North Sea by Pieter van Beukering and others.

Key takeaways:

• Maritime governance is mainly reliant on global agreements, the enforcement is done via national and local governments, and the private sector is experiencing an increased pressure from all the governance levels, the nature of the trade, and from civil society.
• 13.3% of worldwide spills, including oil and container spills, and 39% of reported container loss cases occurred in or near the North Sea. Fragmented jurisdiction, frail policies, lack of international measures and regulations on shipping routes all contribute to deflecting responsibility and hindering accountability in the shipping sector.
• Recommendations are based on precautionary principle, ecosystem approach, and polluter pays principle. There is a need for stricter fines, sanctions or penalties for unreported spills or container loss, and increased liability limits. At the same time, participatory processes inclusive of civil society ought to be developed.
• The translation of the North Sea Conferences Principles into concrete policies on container loss and a more defined accountability regime could ensure the protection of the North Sea, and the oceans, against plastic pollution.

Saliba, M., Frantzi, S., & van Beukering, P. (2022). Shipping spills and plastic pollution: A review of maritime governance in the North Sea. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 181, 1-22 [link]

Post-collection Separation of Plastic Waste: Better for the Environment and Lower Collection Costs? by Raymond Gradus and others.

Key findings:

• Municipalities with post-separation and curbside collection systems separate more plastic waste than those with only one of these systems. The combination of post separation and curbside collection results in 7.6-8.0 kg of separated plastic waste per inhabitant. The study also finds that unit-based pricing (UBP) systems can increase the amount of separated plastic waste, especially when combined with curbside collection.
• Post-collection separation leads to higher plastic waste recycling rates compared to home separation, even when combined with unit-based pricing systems for unsorted waste. Additionally, the cost-effectiveness of recycling plastic waste increases with post-separation.
• Post-separation yields more separated plastic waste per inhabitant than home-separation, with an average of 1.50 kg more separated plastic waste per inhabitant.
• Frequency of collection of unsorted waste affects the recycling rate, with lower frequency leading to higher recycling rates. Additionally, the study suggests that post-separation and unsorted waste collection methods result in higher amounts of plastic waste per inhabitant compared to duo-bin systems.
• European Directive on plastic packaging should be amended in such a way that post-separation can be an alternative for home separation.

Dijkgraaf, E., & Gradus, R. (2020). Post-collection Separation of Plastic Waste: Better for the Environment and Lower Collection Costs? Environmental and Resource Economics, 77(1), 127-142 [link]

Postcollection Separation of Plastic Recycling and Design-For-Recycling as Solutions to Low Cost-Effectiveness and Plastic Debris by Raymond Gradus

Key findings:

• The quality of separated plastic waste is low, with 25-30% being burned and most low-quality mixed plastics being exported to Asia. 
• Postcollection or mechanical separation of plastic waste has become a serious alternative to home separation, with lower costs and higher polymeric purity. 
• Cost-effectiveness of plastic recycling is low, with an implicit CO2 abatement price of €178/t of CO2, and that the quality of recycled plastics is better with postseparation than with home separation.

Gradus, R. (2020). Postcollection separation of plastic recycling and design-for-recycling as solutions to low cost-effectiveness and plastic debris. Sustainability, 12(20), 1-12 [link]

Secrecy at the end of the recycling chain: The recycling of plastic waste in Surabaya, Indonesia by Freek Colombijn.

Key findings:

• Factories producing pellets from recycled plastics maintain a strategic invisibility to distance themselves from the negative stigma associated with waste management.
• The negative stigma is directed towards waste-pickers, junk-dealers, and grinders who work with waste manually.
• Factories have control over the supply chain by setting standards for the materials they accept and declaring which suppliers are capable or not.
• The distance from the source allows factories to shake off the opprobrium of working with waste and avoid accountability for environmental or social mismanagement.
• The quality of recycled plastic could be improved with more openness and transparency in the supply chain.

Colombijn, F. (2020). Secrecy at the end of the recycling chain: The recycling of plastic waste in Surabaya, Indonesia. Worldwide Waste: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, 3(1), 1-10 [link]

Comparative Microplastic Analysis in Urban Waters Using μ-FTIR And Py-GC-MS: A Case Study in Amsterdam by Feride Öykü Sefiloglu, Marthinus Brits, Quinn Groenewoud, Marja Lamoree and colleagues.

Key findings

• The study reveals that MP concentrations range from 16-107 MP/m3, estimated to be 2.0-789 μg/m3 by μ-FTIR imaging and 8.5-754 μg/m3 by Py-GC-MS. Elevated MP concentrations were observed in the city center compared to suburban areas, and seasonal differences in MP abundances were noted at locations with high human activity. 
• Particle size distribution showed a consistent trend of increasing particle numbers as size decreases within the 25–300 μm range. 
• 53% of all detected particles were measured below 100 μm in major dimensions.
• 97% of the MP particles identified by μ-FTIR corresponded to the 6 polymers targeted in the Py-GC-MS analyses. 
• PP emerged as the most abundant polymer in both sampling seasons.

Sefiloglu, F. Ö., Stratmann, C. N., Brits, M., van Velzen, M. J. M., Groenewoud, Q., Vethaak, A. D., Dris, R., Gasperi, J., & Lamoree, M. H. (2024). Comparative microplastic analysis in urban waters using μ-FTIR and Py-GC-MS: A case study in Amsterdam. Environmental Pollution, 351, 1-11 [link]

Quantitation of micro and nanoplastics in human blood by pyrolysis-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry by Marthinus Brits, Feride Öykü Sefiloglu, Lorenzo Scibetta, Quinn Groenewoud, Sicco Brandsma, Marja Lamoree and colleagues.

Key findings

• The study found that plastic polymers were present in 64 out of 68 blood samples, with polyethylene (PE) being the most common polymer detected. The mean concentration of summed polymer concentrations was 268 ng/mL, with a range of 170-2490 ng/mL. 
• The optimized Py-GC-MS method allowed for the quantitative analysis of six plastic polymers in blood samples with good linearity, repeatability, and reproducibility. 
• The study detected plastic polymers in 64 out of 68 whole blood samples, with polyethylene being the dominant polymer detected, followed by PVC, PET, and PMMA.
• Strict quality control and quality assurance protocols were implemented to confirm the reliability of the data.
• Limit of quantitation (LOQ) range from 100 ng/mL (PMMA) to 825 ng/mL (PVC) and recovery experiments show good accuracy and precision ranging from 68 to 109% for the quality controlsamples included in the batch analysis.

Brits, M., Van Velzen, M. J. M., Sefiloglu, F. Ö., Scibetta, L., Groenewoud, ..., & Lamoree, M. H. (2024). Quantitation of micro and nanoplastics in human blood by pyrolysis-gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. Microplastics and Nanoplastics, 4(1) [link]

Strategy towards producing relevant and reliable data for the hazard assessment of micro- and nanoplastics in agricultural soils by Cornelis A.M. van Gestel and others.

Key findings

• The key findings of the study are the need for environmentally relevant experimental designs, guidelines for microplastic test materials selection and characterization, analysis of MNPs and additives in soil and biota, and a proposal for relevant soil physicochemical properties to be assessed during ecotoxicity testing.
• The paper highlights the importance of considering the size, shape, chemical composition, and origin of MNPs in ecotoxicological testing, as well as the need to address effects in environmentally plausible shapes, size distributions, and chemical compositions.
• The definition of the appropriate test concentrations is complicated by the fact that MNP concentrations in environmental samples are typically reported in two different units: mass and particle number concentration.
• In terms of ecotoxicity, the particle size and shape are likely to be among the properties of MNPs that are crucial for interaction with organisms.
• As the detection of MNPs in soil is a challenging task for a standard ecotoxicological laboratory, and considering the reasons above, we argue against making this analysis mandatory.

Kokalj, A. J., Kalčíková, G., Selonen, S., Bosker, T., Drobne, D., Dvořáková, D., ... & van Gestel, C. A. (2024). Strategy towards producing relevant and reliable data for the hazard assessment of micro-and nanoplastics in agricultural soils. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 172, 117567 [link]

Triggering sustainable plastics consumption behavior: Identifying consumer profiles across Europe and designing strategies to engage them by Hanna Dijkstra, Sem Duijndam, Pieter van Beukering, and others.

Key findings

• Personal responsibility and self-proclaimed knowledge are critical variables affecting all stages of sustainable plastics consumption behavior, and a factor differentiating consumer profiles. Awareness of consequences is not always a powerful motivator.
• Differences in behaviors and attitudes related to plastics across the consumer profiles confirm the heterogeneity within society and stress the need for tailored strategies to stimulate sustainable plastics consumption behavior of different social groups.
• Smaller impacts are anticipated when focusing on consumers who are already highly engaged in sustainable plastics consumption behavior or those who appear seemingly unmotivated.
• The group of consumers who are aware and willing to reduce the negative environmental impacts of plastics is no longer a minority but appears to be a significant portion of European citizens.

van Oosterhout, L., Dijkstra, H., Borst, D., Duijndam, S., Rehdanz, K., & van Beukering, P. (2023). Triggering sustainable plastics consumption behavior: Identifying consumer profiles across Europe and designing strategies to engage them. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 36, 148-160 [link]