See Below
In the past few years, Plastic Marine Litter has received increased attention by the media. The existence and the growth of extensive plastic gyres in the oceans and the rising quantities of small plastic debris are increasingly being seen as threat to marine wildlife and potentially also to human health. There is hence urgent need to minimize littering and other forms of leakages which ultimately lead to Plastic Marine Litter.
Against this background it is essential
• to gain better understanding of the sources of origin and on the pathways (leaks) leading to Plastic Marine Litter in the North Sea and
• to identify future research strategies allowing to obtain deeper insight into how to prevent Plastic Marine Litter by closing leaks of plastics to the environment.
These are the two main objectives of the proposed internship (or MSc. project) which is conducted with a focus on the North Sea in collaboration with Stichting De Noordzee (North Sea Foundation), the think tank and consultancy IMSA Amsterdam , the Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI) and a few other stakeholders.
The first task (1/3 to 1/2 of total project time) is to analyze the (OSPAR database and other data sources) on litter found on coastal lines of North Sea countries in order to gain a first understanding of types of waste, origins, time delays, changes in quantities, product types over time etc. As
input for the interpretation of the data, it is also planned to combine statistical information in a material flow analysis on the consumption of the most relevant plastic products (by application and by material, ideally as a function of time). Further insight will be obtained by interviewing experts from research, government bodies and industry. Ideally, the available information will allow to develop a theoretical model to estimate leakage pathways from the mainland and seaborne sources to the North Sea. While this objective may not or may be only partially attainable, it will in any case be valuable to formulate the key findings and to draw conclusions about the usefulness and the limits of an analysis using the OSPAR database. Since it is probably not feasible to perform a thorough analysis for several plastic packaging items, the focus will be on 0.5 liter plastic beverage bottles.
It is expected that the above activities will provide only a partial understanding. Therefore, as second task (1/2 to 2/3 of time), a project plan will be prepared on how to arrive at a more accurate and reliable understanding of the pathways leading to Plastic Marine Litter (pathways include transport to the sea via land and rivers as well as littering caused by shipping activities). This will be based on an inventory of other relevant research activities (e.g. statistical correlations as applied for other types of waste and other ultimate fates), an assessment of their feasibility for Plastic Marine Litter as research objective and the expected insight gained, if either directly applied or adapted. In addition, the effort in person months and costs of consumables (if any) will be estimated, potential partners will be identified (including their role) and, if feasible, also potential funding sources.
Requirements for this internship (or M.Sc. project) are the ability to process and interpret large datasets of varying scope and basic knowledge of the Dutch language. This project is offered as internship but it may be extended to an M.Sc. thesis and potentially even to a combined M.Sc. thesis and internship.
The formal location of this internship is Utrecht University but separate stays of two to several weeks will be arranged at Stichting De Noordzee, IMSA Amsterdam and DPI. For more information please contact Martin Patel, m.k.patel@uu.nl .
[1] IMSA is the author of the recent report “Plastics do not belong in the ocean”
[2] OSPAR stands for the Oslo and Paris conventions Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic
http://www.noordzee.nl/internship-or-m.sc.-project-on-plastic-marine-litter/