Plastics are becoming more present in the seas and oceans around the world. The Mediterranean — a semi-enclosed marine basin — is one of the seas that accumulates more plastic waste from the continent, a situation that is endangering biodiversity and marine ecosystems. Now, the University of Barcelona is working on a citizen science project to better understand the origins and final destination of the plastics that reach the sea and thus improve the marine environment conservation strategies in the north-western Mediterranean.
The TRAP project (Participatory Strategies for the Management of Transboundary Coastal Plastic Pollution) is led by Professor Anna Sanchez-Vidal, from the Consolidated Research Group in Marine Geosciences of the University of Barcelona’s Faculty of Earth Sciences, and has as its main partners the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) and the company Plastic At Sea.
With a budget of nearly one million euros, the project will run from 2025 to 2028. It is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), under the Interreg POCTEFA Programme, a European Union initiative to promote the sustainable development of the border territory of Spain, France and Andorra.
The first meeting of the project will take place on 9 April, in the boardroom of the UB’s Faculty of Earth Sciences, with the participation of Professor Anna Sanchez-Vidal, Professor José Alsina, from the UPC’s Laboratory of Maritime Engineering, and Edouard Lavergne, from Plastic At Sea, the main promoters of the initiative, among other participants.
From French coasts to Delta de l’Ebre
Most of the plastic waste that threatens the marine environment comes from the mainland (rivers, beaches, outfalls, discharges). The TRAP project will contribute to preserving the ecological values of the coastal region of the Eastern Coastal Functional Area (AFLE) of the Pyrenees-Mediterranean Euroregion, from the estuary of the Aude river to the Ebro delta. According to recent studies, marine plastics are present in this area both near large cities and far from the coast, probably due to dispersion by the northern current flowing southwards from the Gulf of Lion, which is capable of transporting up to one trillion microplastics to southern latitudes.
“Marine pollution has no borders. Due to their buoyancy and durability, plastics can be transported long distances from their areas of origin and can be the cause of transboundary marine pollution”, says Anna Sanchez-Vidal, a member of the UB’s Department of Earth and Ocean Dynamics. “The exponential increase in their production in recent decades means that their future presence in the environment will be a real environmental crisis”, says Sanchez-Vidal.
In line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), TRAP will address key issues for the conservation of seas and oceans. The application of numerical models by researchers from the UPC’s Laboratory of Maritime Engineering will contribute to understanding how much plastic enters, how it is dispersed and where it accumulates. The ultimate goal is to provide managers with a numerical tool for predicting the distribution of plastics in this cross-border region to help lead environmental policy actions to mitigate their impact at the local and regional level.
Citizen science and commitment to the environment
Citizen science will also play a leading role, with the involvement of citizens in the project’s scientific research tasks. This will allow sampling in areas with higher geographical and temporal resolution, reduce travel — and therefore project costs — and increase environmental awareness. The collaboration with Plastics at Sea and sports, social and environmental organizations on both sides of the Pyrenees will make it possible to characterize and monitor the arrival of plastics on the coast — especially from continental sources — and to find out the spatial and temporal distribution of waste in response to anthropic factors and environmental variables (tourism, meteorology, oceanography).
With this combined approach, TRAP will respond to several scientific and societal challenges: understanding the mechanisms of plastic transport in the coastal region of the north-western Mediterranean, developing a tool to facilitate better waste management at local and regional level, and informing and raising public awareness of plastic pollution.
“TRAP is an opportunity to rethink environmental policies on both sides of the Pyrenees. The joint work of partners, organizations and citizens will make it possible to comprehensively assess the problem of plastic pollution on the coast beyond administrative boundaries, thus improving environmental policies to protect the marine environment”, concludes Anna Sanchez-Vidal.