plastic

In-No-Plastic (Innovative approaches towards prevention, removal and reuse of marine plastic litter) is a project with the goal to develop and demonstrate nano-, micro-, and macro-plastic clean-up technologies in the aquatic ecosystems. The project is funded within the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, within the pilot action for the removal of marine plastics and litter. This topic is in support of the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy.

The approach taken is a combination of social and technical strategies targeting the industrial hot spots through cooling water systems (CWS), harbours, lagoons, shores and shallow seawater. The technical approach consists of comparing the existing plastics removal methodologies with multiple developing technologies at varying testing sites in Europe and in the Caribbean.

The social strategy comprises an incentive-based initiative that relies on a crowdsourcing application. The focus is to get the local population involved by incentivising plastic recovery in return for monetary compensation and other rewards.

AbstractUrbanization has introduced novel materials for nesting birds, including anthropogenic debris that may be dangerous to adults and nestlings (e.g., entanglement or ingestion leading to injury or mortality). We present two observations of incorporation of man-made materials into passerine nests on St. Eustatius, Caribbean Netherlands. This is the first publication of such observations for St. Eustatius, and addresses a gap in literature that acknowledges the use of anthropogenic litter by landbirds in the wider Caribbean.