Abstract
Plastic pollution is considered one of today’s major environmental problems. Current land-based monitoring programs typically rely on beach litter data and seldom include plastic pollution further inland. We initiated a citizen science project known as the Mass Experiment inviting schools throughout The Danish Realm (Denmark, Greenland and the Faeroe Islands) to collect litter samples of and document plastic pollution in 8 different nature types. In total approximately 57,000 students (6–19 years) collected 374,082 plastic items in 94 out of 98 Danish municipalities over three weeks during fall 2019. The Mass Experiment was the first scientific survey of plastic litter to cover an entire country. Here we show how citizen science, conducted by students, can be used to fill important knowledge gaps in plastic pollution research, increase public awareness, establish large scale clean-up activities and subsequently provide information to political decision-makers aiming for a more sustainable future.
Highlights
Plastic pollution is considered one of today’s major environmental problems
According to an expert group under Science Advice for Policy by European Academics (SAPEA), risks to the environment posed by microplastics are today localized in specific hotspot areas, whereas widespread risks could be “more likely than not” within a century if pollution patterns do not change[7] highlighting the importance of societal actions
374,082 plastic litter items were collected on 3542 transects (i.e. a 100-m zone with varying width), distributed over eight different nature types (Fig. 1)
Summary
Plastic pollution is considered one of today’s major environmental problems. Current land-based monitoring programs typically rely on beach litter data and seldom include plastic pollution further inland. We initiated a citizen science project known as the Mass Experiment inviting schools throughout The Danish Realm (Denmark, Greenland and the Faeroe Islands) to collect litter samples of and document plastic pollution in 8 different nature types. Until today the MLW program has focused solely on beach litter, neglecting data describing plastic pollution further inland[17] This monitoring approach results in significant uncertainties and knowledge gaps in the amounts, composition and distribution of plastic pollution in various terrestrial nature types, such as road side ditches, forests and parks as mainly beach litter data have been used to monitor plastic p ollution[18]. As a consequence the potential impacts of plastic pollution in terrestrial ecosystems has been suggested as a focal point for future r esearch[20] To address these knowledge gaps and generate public awareness, we initiated a citizen science project known as the “Mass Experiment” in close collaboration with the Danish National Center for Science Education, Astra. We asked school classes throughout The Danish Realm (Denmark, Greenland and the Faeroe Islands) to collect litter samples and document plastic litter locally during the 3-week period September 16th to October 11th 2019, making the Mass Experiment the first scientific survey of plastic litter to cover an entire country, namely Denmark
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