3. Global Movement
Honolulu strategy
Oceans initiative
Marine litter watch
OSPAR
Numerous local and regional actors (for example hammerdirt)
Rencontres nationales des collecteurs de déchets
4. First study : MCBPI Nov 2014 - Aug 2015
Focussed on litter removal and background research
Counted volume not pieces
Positive message
Ignored by local, regional, national authorities, and other NGO’s
Adoption of citizen science philosophy
5.
6. Second project MCBPII Nov 2015 – Nov 2016
Adoption of Marine litter watch system for litter codes
Surface area measurements, results reported as density of pcs/m²
Kobo toolbox : Data is available for download
Open Data Kit (ODK) for form development
Formalized reporting methods
Reports distributed to local and national authorities
Facilitates comparison of our results to other studies in the world
7. 27 Litter Surveys
23 Nov – 23 Jan
o Five different locations
o 8,560 pieces of trash removed
o Between 60% and 97% plastic
0,0%
10,0%
20,0%
30,0%
40,0%
50,0%
60,0%
70,0%
80,0%
90,0%
100,0%
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
2015-11-23
2015-11-24
2015-11-27
2015-12-01
2015-12-02
2015-12-04
2015-12-04
2015-12-07
2015-12-08
2015-12-10
2015-12-10
2015-12-14
2015-12-16
2015-12-17
2015-12-17
2015-12-30
2016-01-06
2016-01-07
2016-01-08
2016-01-13
2016-01-13
2016-01-15
2016-01-19
2016-01-19
2016-01-21
2016-01-23
Plasticasa%ofdailytotal
Totalpiecescollectedperday
Daily totals and plastic as a % of daily total
Montreux-Clarens-Vevey
November 23 2015 - January 27 2016
Daily total Daily Average % Plastic
8. Six categories 72% of trash
o Cigarette butts are 25% of total
o Foam and bits of plastic 36%
o The remaining 560 pieces is spread
out over 70 categories
Cigarette Butts
25%
Foam
24%
Plastic pieces
11%
Glass
bottles/pieces
4%
Candy wrappers
4%
Cotton Swabs
4%
All the rest
28%
Top six categories of trash found
all sites combined
Montreux - Clarens - Vevey
November 2015 - January 2016
9. Certain Items have
cyclical patterns
o Cotton swabs
o Foam
o Plastic Bits
0,0%
2,0%
4,0%
6,0%
8,0%
10,0%
12,0%
2015-11-23
2015-11-30
2015-12-07
2015-12-14
2015-12-21
2015-12-28
2016-01-04
2016-01-11
2016-01-18
Percentageofdailytotal
Cotton swabs as % of daily total
Nov 2015 - Jan 2016
Vevey Clarens Montreux
10. Other Items not so much
o Cigarette butts are a constant in
the environment
0,0%
6,0%
12,0%
18,0%
24,0%
30,0%
36,0%
42,0%
48,0%
54,0%
60,0%
66,0%
2015-11-23
2015-11-30
2015-12-07
2015-12-14
2015-12-21
2015-12-28
2016-01-04
2016-01-11
2016-01-18
Percentageofdailytotal
Cigarette butts as % of daily total
Nov 2015 - Jan 2016
Vevey Clarens Montreux
11. Missed oportunities
Other data can be collected at the same time
Integration of litter data to socio-economic studies
Correlation (if any) of the occurrence of items such as cotton-swabs, toilet fresheners,
tampons to other biological indicators
Do the cyclical patterns of items correlate to any biological data/water quality data?
Transport of bacterial pathogens on waterborne styrofoam and plastic
Many more…
12. What is really in our water ?
Lonza, Syngenta, CHUV, municpal overflow, Tamoil …
Microplatics in suspension?
Heavy metals?
Analytic chemistry is expensive and requires considerable overhed
13. How can you help ?
Adopt a beach in the region (Rennens/Lausanne/Morges)
Further development of DIY biosensors and water quality sensors
Development of an automated or semi-automated system for quantifying microplastics in
suspension
Integrate the data in your research
