The plastics experiment: An inventory of plastics pollution in sweden using a citizen science approach with school children

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Autore principale: Carney Almroth, Bethanie
Natura: Recurso digital
Pubblicazione: Zenodo 2024
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author Carney Almroth, Bethanie
author_facet Carney Almroth, Bethanie
contents Plastics litter is a ubiquitous, global problem. Mapping the types of plastics objects in the environment, and the areas in which these are found, can help identify problematic products that often escape from waste management infrastructure. Application of citizen science approaches to undertake such mapping has numerous benefits, including improved data collection, but also communication and education of environmental issues to non-experts, in this case school children. Here, researchers collaborated with groups working on public communication of science, research and education (Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation and VA (Public & Science)). School children, and their teachers, were provided with instructions guiding data collection and reporting, which included documenting the area surveyed, the type of environment, the number, types and total weight of the plastics items collected. The experiment was run for a total of four data collection periods in 2022 and 2023, in spring and fall of each year. Over 59,000 plastic items were collected and categorised with a total weight of 477 kilograms. Nature areas (e.g. parks, forests) showed the highest total number of objects per square meter, while swimming areas/beaches exhibited the highest weight of plastic per square meter. The most common categories of plastic litter were: cigarette butts (21 Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559328/document
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spellingShingle The plastics experiment: An inventory of plastics pollution in sweden using a citizen science approach with school children
Carney Almroth, Bethanie
cigarette butts
citizen science
food packaging
plastics pollution: plastics litter
Plastics litter is a ubiquitous, global problem. Mapping the types of plastics objects in the environment, and the areas in which these are found, can help identify problematic products that often escape from waste management infrastructure. Application of citizen science approaches to undertake such mapping has numerous benefits, including improved data collection, but also communication and education of environmental issues to non-experts, in this case school children. Here, researchers collaborated with groups working on public communication of science, research and education (Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation and VA (Public & Science)). School children, and their teachers, were provided with instructions guiding data collection and reporting, which included documenting the area surveyed, the type of environment, the number, types and total weight of the plastics items collected. The experiment was run for a total of four data collection periods in 2022 and 2023, in spring and fall of each year. Over 59,000 plastic items were collected and categorised with a total weight of 477 kilograms. Nature areas (e.g. parks, forests) showed the highest total number of objects per square meter, while swimming areas/beaches exhibited the highest weight of plastic per square meter. The most common categories of plastic litter were: cigarette butts (21 Also see: https://micro2024.sciencesconf.org/559328/document
title The plastics experiment: An inventory of plastics pollution in sweden using a citizen science approach with school children
topic cigarette butts
citizen science
food packaging
plastics pollution: plastics litter
url https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18387682