Advancing the Battle Against Ocean Microplastic Pollution: Insights from the UN Ocean Decade Conference Satellite Event

Post, Technical activities

On April 9th, amidst the prestigious backdrop of the 2024 UN Ocean Decade Conference, a pivotal satellite event titled “Global Awareness, Research Activities and Network to Address Ocean Microplastic Pollution” convened at the PRBB-Barcelona Biomedical Research Park. Spearheaded by NORCE and IAEA, and jointly organized with esteemed partners including AIR Centre (representing the LabPlas Project),…

Size definition of microplastics

Technical activities

Currently, microplastics are predominantly defined as plastic particles below 5 mm in size (Arthur et al., 2009) . This includes most pellets, which are macroscopic and easily distinguished from actual pieces resulting from plastic fragmentation, and with a different chemical composition as they often lack the chemical additives added in the compounding phase of plastic…

European Commission’s New Initiatives to Regulate Intentional Microplastic Additions

Post

Last September 25th, the European Commission made a significant move to safeguard our environment by adopting measures that restrict the sale of intentionally added microplastics in products, in accordance with EU chemical legislation (REACH). These new regulations (COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) 2023/2055) will prevent the release of approximately half a million tonnes of microplastics into the…

Specific challenges in plastic governance

Post

Plastic debris was already observed in the world’s oceans in the 1960s. From then on, the contamination of ecosystems by plastic debris started to raise concerns. Nevertheless, to this day governance has not been successful in tackling the issue of plastics. Why is that? What is holding us back to take appropriate measures? In this…

2nd LabPlas´ General Assembly in Braga, Portugal

Events

We are thrilled to share that the second General Assembly of LabPlas took place on June 27th and 28th in the beautiful city of Braga, Portugal, hosted at the impressive facilities of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL).    During these two days, experts and collaborators gathered to discuss the latest advancements and breakthroughs in…

World Environment Day and LabPlas

Post

  This World Environment Day in 2023 serves as a poignant reminder that each individual’s actions regarding plastic pollution have a significant impact. The collective efforts of governments and businesses in addressing this issue are a direct consequence of the actions taken by people. Now is the time to accelerate our actions and shift towards…