The extensive use of plastics by consumers and industry has resulted in an increased amount of plastic litter entering and building-up in marine ecosystems. Plastic pollution does not only present a threat by itself, but may also introduce additional hazard due to the presence of chemical additives added during its production. Increasing amounts of microplastics and associated chemicals resulting from fragmentation and degradation of marine litter, are one of the less known threats to the marine environment, especially in the long-term. The MicroLEACH project will investigate the long-term effects of microplastics and their additives on a selection of marine organisms found in the Norwegian environment.
This project is coordinated by NIVA (Norway) and the consortium consists of four additional partners SINTEF (Norway), University of Queensland (Australia), University of Plymouth (UK) and the VU Amsterdam.
Contact at Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment: Dr. Sicco Brandsma and prof. dr. Marja Lamoree
Main project website: https://www.niva.no/en/projects/microleach
MicroLEACH: Microplastics – Long-term Effects of plastics and Additive Chemicals on marine organisms
MicroLEACH is an interdisciplinary four-year project funded by the Research Council of Norway (Marinforsk call) that brings together scientists from fields of microplastic and other particulate research, analytical chemistry, ecotoxicology and risk assessment.