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A recent article published by members of the Microplastics Fingerprinting research team introduces a new AI tool they developed and tested called PlasticNet. The tool uses a deep learning convolutional neural network architecture to identify microplastics using images obtained from infrared spectroscopy.

In November 2023 a high-profile multidisciplinary journal in environmental science, Science of the Total Environment (STOTEN) recently published an editorial describing the journal’s minimum requirements for measurement of plastics in environmental samples that must be met before the paper is considered for review and possible publication.

Lewis Alcott is a postdoctoral fellow in the Ecohydrology Research Group at the University of Waterloo. The lab is run by Professor Philippe Van Cappellen who is the Principal Investigator on the Microplastics Fingerprinting project.

The Microplastics Fingerprinting project is currently about halfway through its four-year funding period. At this year’s annual meeting, the team took stock of what it has learned so far.

Part A: Progress in microplastics sampling, detection and identification techniques 

The Microplastics Fingerprinting project is currently about halfway through its four-year funding period. At this year’s annual meeting, the team took stock of what it has learned so far.

Part B: Fate, Transport, and Sources of Microplastics in the Grand River Watershed and Beyond 

Researchers from the Microplastics Fingerprinting project came together on September 19, 2023 to discuss their efforts to improve our ability to identify, track, and characterize microplastics (MPs) that make their way into the environment.

In urban areas where there is a higher level of concentrated human activities, microplastics tend to build up in the sediments of stormwater retention ponds (SWPs), man-made structures designed to capture surface water runoff.

In this project, we’re trying to estimate the number of microplastics entering the Great Lakes from WWTPs each day, and to determine the ultimate destination of these particles on a lake-by-lake and country-by-country basis. 

Frank Zhu is a passionate PhD candidate specializing in microplastic research under the guidance of Dr. Wayne Parker, a distinguished professor in environmental engineering focusing on wastewater treatment.

Researchers from the Microplastics Fingerprinting projectdrove about 45 minutes north of Waterloo to collect sediment core samples from Conestogo Lake.