Standardised protocol for monitoring microplastics in sediments

Under the scope of the JPI-Oceans, BASEMAN is an international and interdisciplinary collaborative research project that aims to overcome the lack of standardised methodologies through a profound and detailed comparison and evaluation of all approaches from sampling to identification of MPs. The two overall goals of the project are firstly “The validation and harmonisation of analytical methods” which is indispensable for the second goal of “Identification and quantification of MPs”. Based on these goals and with the overall aim of creating a standardised methodology to allow microplastics harmonised long-term monitoring in Europe, the BASEMAN project provides a set of recommended protocols to allow comparisons among studies. With this in mind, the protocols will focus on sampling, processing and analysis of MPs in samples from different environmental compartments, specifically addressing MPs from intertidal and subtidal sediments. This protocol is aimed at improving sampling, processing and MPs data collection quality while also allowing comparison amongst different studies throughout Europe.