RARE-1: Estimating macro, micro & nano plastic flows to improve plastic solution strategies for geographically variable locations

Plastic waste is contaminating oceans, waters, and soils at an alarming rate. Microplastics are plastics so small that they may be barely seen by the human eye. Sometimes microplastics are engineered to be tiny, such as when they are used in cosmetic products, and sometimes microplastics are formed from the breakdown of larger, macro plastics.

Microplastics pose a growing but uncertain threat to human health and the environment. They have been found everywhere, in food, in humans, and in drinking water. While it is known that microplastics are being found everywhere, currently it is not well tracked where they’ve come from.

It is not known who or what are the biggest sources of microplastics for humans and the environment. Without an accurate picture of where plastics of all sizes come from and how they move through systems and the environment, it is not possible to design effective solutions. This research will collect new data on the amount and type of plastics found in different geographic environments.

These data will be used to create a model of plastic flows through engineered systems, products, and the environment and will experiment with potential solutions to minimize plastic flows to humans and the environment. The project will engage and educate US and Caribbean students in learning how to collect and measure microplastics in the environment.

This project will build a Material Flow Analysis (MFA) for plastics in the US and Caribbean. The research aims to evaluate whether secondary micro and nano plastic concentrations can be correlated to macro-plastic concentrations. If correlations can be made, then the research will explore whether satellite and aerial data can be used to estimate the presence of plastics in aquatic environments.

This research will identify where plastics move through and accumulate in the environment via MFA, as well as identify opportunities for resource recovery or mitigation of their release to the environment. To answer these research questions, this project will build a probabilistic MFA that includes macro, micro, and nano plastics. Subsequently, solution spaces will be identified via scenario analysis conducted with expert stakeholder input.

First, the MFA will enable understanding of where the largest flows, losses, and accumulation of plastics occur. Second, and perhaps most important, is that this information will then enable researchers to identify and experiment with potential solutions that support sustainable management of plastics. Data mining and data estimation techniques will be used to populate data for the MFA.

Field measurements of micro and nano plastics will be taken from 6 different geographic locations (CA, CO, MI, NY, Dominican Republic, Belize) to supplement mined data. Field measurements will follow analytical procedures outlined in the literature and by ASTM for sampling and analysis of microplastics. Once the MFA is constructed, model refinement, validation, and scenario analysis will be conducted to evaluate potential innovative solution scenarios with expert stakeholders.

This project will curate a plastics database and create an MFA that investigates different geographic locations, the intersection of macro plastics with primary and secondary micro and nano plastics, flows into unique compartments such as food and humans, and an assessment of possible solutions and waste management practices leveraging a stakeholder network of over 200 people.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.