Dr. Jörg Lefèvre is involved with the topic of environment-friendly and health-friendly processes and products within the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU), works in the government commission of the State Government of Lower Saxony, and is a member of management boards and committees of various organisations. In these various functions, he also deals with the problems surrounding microplastic emissions and their avoidance, for example in the development and design of car tyres and textiles. In this connection, he has also become involved with the topic of data recording via satellite technology. Against this background, we asked him to appraise the process presented in this newsletter from the University of Michigan, with which movements and concentrations of plastics particles in the sea are calculated from satellite data.

BASF Venture Capital GmbH (BVC), the corporate venture company of the BASF group, has announced a strategic investment in the US company Oceanworks for the development of sustainable solutions. Via its platform, Oceanworks offers not only PCR recyclate but also recyclate from marine litter, the origin of which is said to be traceable back to its origin through digital solutions.

A robot system that is capable or learning, currently being developed by scientists at the Technical University of Munich together with eight European partner institutes as part of the "SeaClear Projects", should in future be able to independently track down, chart and collect plastic waste from the seabed. The first test of a prototype in the Mediterranean Sea off Dubrovnik had been successful, says the research team.

Ecotoxicological studies on the effects of microplastics on human health and the environment have, until now, frequently produced contradictory results. In relevant studies on the health risks due to microplastics, human tissue such as intestinal cells or marine organisms such as crabs and mussels were subjected to various microplastic particle concentrations in order to research the interactions with cell tissue. These microparticles were previously categorised according to the type of plastic, the shape and the size. Their chemical and physical properties were, however, seldom taken into account. An interdisciplinary research team from the University of Bayreuth headed by Prof. Dr. Christian Laforsch has now established that the characteristics of the conventional polystyrene that is frequently used in these studies differ significantly depending on the manufacturer, and that it also affects cell tissue differently. Generalised statements on health hazards or ecological risks from microplastics are therefore considered by the scientists to be problematical.