Welcome to the Microplastics Fingerprinting project
Plastics pollution is a global and growing environmental hazard with potentially far-reaching consequences for food webs, biodiversity, ecosystem services and human well-being. Of particular concern are microplastics because their small sizes enhance their mobility, toxicity to wildlife, and capacity to leach potentially dangerous contaminants.
The Microplastics Fingerprinting at the watershed scale: from sources to receivers projectseeks to better understand the sources, transport, fate and exposure risks of microplastics at a watershed scale in the lower Great Lakes. In doing so, we hope to inform program and policy approaches that can mitigate risks posed by plastic debris in the environment.
The project will analyze the reactivity and breakdown of microplastics in river systems and reservoirs, quantify the loads of microplastics delivered to the lower Great Lakes, optimize microplastics elimination in wastewater treatment plants, and determine the abundance and diversity of microplastics in drinking water sources.
This project is supported by the NSERC Alliance Grant competition on plastics science for a cleaner future. The project will contribute to Canada’s Plastics Science Agenda (CaPSA).
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News
Microplastics Fingerprinting team members release standard operating procedure for microplastic extraction from environmental samples
The Microplastics Fingerprinting project is working towards better understanding of microplastic pollution in the natural environment, including the quantities, particle sizes, and composition of plastics found in sediments, soils, and water. This work requires recovering microplastic particles from different types of environmental samples (i.e., matrices). However, there is an overall lack of standardization across the methods people use to do this extraction in a way that ensures results can be compared and quantified across projects.
Scientists play a vital role in Global Plastics Treaty negotiations
From April 23to 29, the world came together in Ottawa for the global plastics treaty negotiations at INC-4 (the 4th session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee). The University of Waterloo, through the Water Institute, participated as an official observer. This involved sending a delegation to witness the negotiations at a pivotal moment in the collective goal of ending plastic pollution. The delegation consisted of members of the Microplastics Fingerprinting project, Stephanie Slowinski, Nancy Goucher, and Cassandra Sherlock, as well as Elizabeth Prince, Assistant Professor from the Department of Chemical Engineering.
Researcher Profile: Meet Sigrid Peldszus
Sigrid Peldszus is a Research Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Waterloo. She has been working at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Industrial Research Chair in Water Treatment for more than 30 years.