Developing ecological solutions to plastic pollution

Hayley will investigate whether nature based solutions could be successfully employed to reduce the flux of microplastics into the marine environment. Key research questions include:

Which plastics are most harmful to the marine environment, and to what extent could policy intervention or bioremediation limit their entry into our seas?

Can biogenic reefs (e.g. mussels) efficiently remove waterborne microplastics from polluted waters without causing harm to the organism and local environment?

Do macrophtyes (e.g. saltmarshes, seagrasses) promote microplastic deposition without causing harm to the local ecosystem?