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EUROqCHARM: Technical Readiness Levels of plastics analyses for monitoring

Edited by:
Francois Galgani: IFREMER, France
Amy Lusher: Norwegian Institute for Water Research, Norway
Sebastian Primpke: Alfred-Wegener-Institut, Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung Biologische Anstalt, Germany

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 30 June 2024


Microplastics and Nanoplastics is calling for submissions to our Collection on 'EUROqCHARM: Technical Readiness Levels of plastics analyses for monitoring.' To develop long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution, it is essential to establish harmonized methodologies to aid in the development of long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution. The EUROqCHARM project addressed this over the past three years by critically reviewing state-of-the-art analytical methods and, taking harmonization one step further, validating them through an interlaboratory comparison study.

About the collection

Microplastics and Nanoplastics is calling for submissions to our Collection on 'EUROqCHARM: Technical Readiness Levels of plastics analyses for monitoring.' 

Plastic pollution has become a global environmental and societal concern in recent years. Numerous protocols have been developed to monitor plastic litter globally, but these are rarely comparable. This has hindered gathering of knowledge regarding pollution sources, development of monitoring programs and risk assessments, and implementation of mitigation measures. To develop long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution, it is essential to establish harmonized methodologies to aid in the development of long-term solutions to reduce plastic pollution. 

The EUROqCHARM project addressed this over the past three years by critically reviewing state-of-the-art analytical methods and, taking harmonization one step further, validating them through an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) study. EUROqCHARM recognized that harmonization for large scale monitoring requires flexibility, comparability, and reliability. We identified Reproducible Analytical Pipelines (RAP), resulting in a catalogue of RAP procedures for nano-, micro- and macro-plastics for the four target matrices. Each RAP was validated in terms of Technology Readiness Level to decide if further validation is needed (by ILC). 

Recommendations for standards, policy and legislation and support for the establishment of acceptable reference levels and environmental targets are given in this topical collection. More information on the project can be found at: www.EUROqCHARM.eu. 

  1. Plastics are persistent in the environment and may be ingested by organisms where they may cause physical harm or release plastic additives. Monitoring is a crucial mechanism to assess the risk of plastics to ...

    Authors: David Vanavermaete, Amy Lusher, Jakob Strand, Esteban Abad, Marinella Farré, Emilie Kallenbach, Michael Dekimpe, Katrien Verlé, Sebastian Primpke, Stefano Aliani and Bavo De Witte
    Citation: Microplastics and Nanoplastics 2024 4:6
    Content type: Review Published on:

    The Correction to this article has been published in Microplastics and Nanoplastics 2024 4:8

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. 

Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system. Please select the appropriate Collection title "EUROqCHARM: Technical Readiness Levels of plastics analyses for monitoring" under the “Details” tab during the submission stage.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.