PlasticTrace

PlasticTrace aims to address the urgent need for development and harmonisation of methods for the chemical identification, physical characterisation and quantification of released small micro/nanoplastics (SMPs/NPs) in drinking water, food and environmental matrices, as required by the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan (CEAP). In this context, hyphenated and complementary analytical approaches will be developed, optimised, compared and harmonised, leading to the establishment of metrological traceability of measurements through robust validation studies. Novel and environmentally relevant SMP/NP reference materials will be developed within the project. International cooperation with key stakeholders globally will be considered as the basis for a European Metrology platform.
Plastic pollution is recognised as a severe anthropogenic issue globally, where complex physico-chemical transformation processes (such as aging, degradation and fragmentation) produce MPs and, subsequently, NPs. These processes occur during production, consumer use, waste processing, as well as through environmental processes after vehicles/industrial emissions. Several studies have reported the occurrence, analytical methods and toxicity of larger MPs in the environment and food matrices. However, MPs (< 100 μm SMPs) and NPs (< 0.1 µm) in natural systems have been overlooked, primarily due to significant methodological challenges associated with their micro- and nano-specific properties. Even though the presence of SMPs/NPs in environmental and food samples (including, water, biota and soil samples) is hypothesised, there is limited data to conclusively demonstrate and quantify the respective amounts. Therefore, there is an urgent need for harmonised and standardised analytical procedures to be developed and utilised for the characterisation of SMPs and NPs.
In this respect, the European Commission (EC) initiated a study on better understanding the potential ecotoxicological impacts of SMPs, thus encouraging research aimed at a better more accurate characterisation of both materials and exposure conditions. Furthermore, the EC adopted the new CEAP in March 2020, which encourages sustainable consumption and aims to prevent plastic waste. To reduce plastic contamination, though, methods for the identification, characterisation and quantification of SMPs and NPs in food and environmental matrices are needed. Such methods should be metrologically validated, using appropriate reference materials, for Europe to establish harmonised and traceable measurements of SMPs and NPs.
End users of the developed procedures include public organisations / NGOs dealing with environmental and food monitoring, regulatory bodies responsible for the control of environmental pollution and food safety, as well as industries potentially responsible (directly or indirectly) for MP emissions and disposal into the environment or the human food chain. In addition, the need for efficient and reliable measurement infrastructure is required by ECHA (European Chemicals Agency) proposed restriction, targeting on added MPs in consumer products, as well as by the new Drinking Water Directive (EU) 2020/2184 also targeting on microplastics (due for revision in 2024).