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.

A further study as part of the MicBin joint project in the research program "Plastic in the Environment" provides clues as to how misinterpretations in microplastic analysis can arise and how they should be dealt with. According to a freely...

In October, the new progress report on Operation Clean Sweep (OCS) was published. This is a program from plastics producers in Europe aimed at avoiding granule losses (pellets, flakes and powders). The program is targeted at all players involved in...

In the lead article of Plastics News in October, Stewart Harris from the Chemistry Council in Washington reflects on the cooperation of industry on the subject of marine litter over the past ten years. His list of initiatives and projects begins with...