Although microplastics are recognized as an emerging contaminant in the environment, currently neither sampling, extraction, purification nor identification approaches are standardised, making the increasing numbers of microplastics studies hardly -if at all- comparable. BASEMAN is an interdisciplinary and international collaborative research project that aims to overcome this problem. BASEMAN teams experienced scientists (from different disciplines and countries) to undertake a profound and detailed comparison and evaluation of all approaches from sampling to Identification of microplastics.
Gunnar Gerdts, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Telephone:+49(4725)819-3245
E-mail: Gunnar.Gerdts@awi.de
BASEMAN’s project outcomes will equip policy makers with the tools and operational measures required to describe the abundance and distribution of microplastics in the environment. Such tools will permit evaluation of member state compliance with existing and future monitoring requirements.