Microparticles in the southern part of the North Sea stem predominantly from paints and surface coatings of ships' hulls. This was the result of a study from the Institute for Marine Chemistry and Biology of the University of Oldenburg. It claims to be the first study offering an overview of microplastic distribution in the North Sea. The research team led by Dr. Barbara Scholz-Böttcher found above all plastic particles stemming from binders of ships coatings. As a source, they are said to be of similar importance as tire abrasion on land. The results show that significantly more microplastic is produced on the open seas than previously supposed.

In connection with the concluding conference of the funding priority "Plastics in the Environment", at which several joint projects also dealt with modeling approaches and measuring methods for the analysis of plastic discharges into the soil and wastewater (see our report), we asked an expert on the subject for his appraisal of the results and about the present situation with the standardization of the measuring methods: Dr. Claus Gerhard Bannick is head of the specialist department for wastewater technology research at the German Environment Agency (UBA).

Under the leadership of the Augsburg geographer Prof. Peter Fiener, a research network was launched in March that aimed to examine the pollution of agricultural soil with macro- and microplastics called the "EU Innovative Training Network". With this program, the EU wants to support a new generation of innovative young scientists.

The research program "Plastics in the Environment – Sources, Sinks, Solutions" of the Federal German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) consists of 20 joint projects over the period from 2017 to 2022. Models for calculating discharge volumes play an important role in this program. A recently published cross-project synthesis paper provides an overview of the various models, brings together its full area of coverage and shows clearly where gaps still exist – in other words where there is still a lack of model structure and above all a lack of data with which the models can be fed.