BALLAST – Process-based mass balance models to understand the complex footprint of plastic pollution in the environment

Plastic pollution in the environment is a global threat that has the potential to trigger poorly reversible environmental and human health impacts.

Scientific understanding of plastic pollution is currently characterized by uncertainties and unknowns about exposure (including sources, transport and fate processes, and the physical and chemical properties of plastic pollution in the environment), and hazards (including potential toxicological and non-toxicological impacts).

A defining feature of plastic pollution is high complexity in terms of properties, composition, size, shape and its associated halo of chemicals.

The BALLAST project will develop a suite of process-based mass-balance models that will confront the complex challenge of quantitively understanding plastic pollution.

BALLAST models will be a knowledge platform for synthesizing scientific understanding about sources, processes & pathways, and concentrations of plastic pollution.

The models will quantify mass balances for plastic pollution at regional and global scales, and enable scenario analysis for evaluating different management options, for generating testable hypotheses, and for targeting discovery-oriented research.

BALLAST will produce models that confront the complexity of plastic pollution by describing a range of particle size classes and aggregation states of plastic.

BALLAST models will support national, European and global management strategies for plastic and evaluating their effectiveness.