Dossier
Microplastics and Nanoplastics
Microplastics and Nanoplastics are tiny plastic particles that may end up in the environment. What are the effects of these plastics in the sea and fresh water? To answer that question Wageningen University & Research conducts research on microplastics and nanoplastics in the sea, in freshwater and in marine and freshwater organisms.
Size of microplastics and nanoplastics
- Microplastics are microscopic in size: 50 µm - 5 mm (0.05-5mm) (Andrady 2011)
- Nanoplastics are 1,000 times smaller than an algal cell.
- Unfortunately, your cookie settings do not allow videos to be displayed. - check your settings
News about microplastics and nanoplastics
-
Twenty years of microplastics pollution research – what have we learned?
- An international group of researchers says 20 years of research have generated sufficient knowledge about the sources and effects of microplastics to allow world leaders to agree measures to address them. Among other things, improved calculation methods can help to obtain a clearer picture of the ecological risks of microplastics. -
Microplastics are no longer so elusive
- The effects of microplastics on humans and animals are not so elusive as they might seem, thanks to better measurement and calculation methods. Environmental chemist Bart Koelmans has been working on this. The results help policymakers get a better picture of the risks of microplastics. -
New research reveals global plastic pollution patterns in river basins
- Plastic pollution in the world's oceans is a critical environmental issue that demands urgent attention. A recent study published in Nature Communications has shed light on the complex dynamics of plastic pollution in river basins, offering valuable insights into the sources and types of plastics that contribute to the crisis. Its findings are poised to transform the way policymakers address plastic pollution. -
Nine Veni Grants to WUR researchers
- Nine Wageningen researchers have been awarded a Veni Grant. This is the same number of recipients as last year, when NWO, the Dutch Research Council, awarded a total of 167 grants. This year NWO honoured a total of 188 applications. -
Veni grant for Dr. Kryss Waldschlager
-
Cooperation helps industry sustainability take a step forward
- Biobased materials need not be inferior to those from the traditional fossil-based industries. Wageningen Food & Biobased Research has been demonstrating this for years within her research programmes, in which Wageningen University & Research (WUR) researchers work with companies on greening industrial production. This was again evident on June 22nd 2023 at the annual Circular and Biobased Products Symposium, the 10th in the series. -
Plastics @ WUR: let’s team up for a sustainable future with fewer plastics
- For the 4th time, the Wageningen plastic team gathered to talk about plastic-related issues. The team consists of about 45 scientists from a variety of science groups representing different disciplines. When talking about plastics, it quickly became clear that there is a wide variety of issues, but also a huge drive to understand and solve them! Plastics are largely embedded in research at Wageningen University & Research (WUR). A quick search shows over 3,000 research outputs and over 408 people linked to plastics at WUR (Search everything — Research@WUR). Yet, there are many opportunities for collaboration to explore. Hence, this was our aim for the 4th WUR Plastic Day. The very interactive programme included warm-up exercises, pitches, discussion carrousels, presentations and opportunities for informal chats. In this newsitem, our colleague Mirjam Bak would like to give you an impression of the 4th WUR Plastic Day following the four main discussion topics of the day and by sharing some of her personal takeaways. -
Tomatoes Unifarm on the menu of restaurant Novum in Omnia
- Restaurant Novum is the culinary meeting place at Wageningen Campus. The restaurant is located in conference centre Omnia, in the heart of Food Valley. Some of the ingredients that are used in the dishes have been developed by startups and experimental farms on Wageningen Campus and elsewhere in the Netherlands. One of those ingredients is the tomato, grown by experimental farm Unifarm of Wageningen University & Research (WUR). -
Examining soil biodiversity in natural systems and their role in plant vegetation dynamics
- Soils contain most biodiversity on Earth and drive major functions such as global elemental cycles and plant community changes. However, we still miss most knowledge on the true biodiversity present in soil and the functional importance of most soil biota especially in soil multifunctionality. -
Positive futures for polluted rivers and seas
- Maryna Strokal has ambitions to reduce pollution in rivers and seas. These ambitions came from her childhood. Maryna likes to swim. Together with her twin sister Vita, they were trained professionally; they often went swimming in the Dnipro River and the Black Sea when they were at school. In the past decades, the river and, consequently, the sea has become increasingly polluted with plastics, nutrients and chemicals. Maryna always wanted to contribute to pollution reduction. Therefore, she decided to study water quality, first in Ukraine, her home country, where she went to the field, sampled water and analysed it in a lab.
News 2015 - 2020
-
Veni grant of 250,000 euros for eight Wageningen researchers
-
Podcast on Science Advice for Policy
-
Developing new circular materials from safe bio-based building blocks
-
Edwin Foekema at NPO1 on the effects of the MSC Zoe container disaster
-
Edwin Foekema and Jan van Franeker on regional television (Omrop Fryslân) about plastic pellets in the Wadden sea
-
Economics of Pollution Management
-
Microplastics paper highlighted in Sciencemag
Projects
-
Multi-pollutant modelling of water quality
-
Towards Circular Greenhouse Horticulture
-
Identifying microplastics in agricultural sites in Brabant
-
Towards a sustainable, peat-free casing soil enriched with biostimulants for the mushroom sector
-
Recyclable paper-based food packaging
-
CHAMPION – Developing new circular materials from safe bio-based building blocks
-
ENZYCLE your plastic: biochemical plastic recycling without loss of value
-
Microplastic food web accumulation project ‘PlasticCod’ granted