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Pollution of water bodies by plastics is a growing global concern, impacting both South Africa and Sweden. Recently, pollution by microplastics (MPs) formed by the physicochemical breakdown of plastics has been flagged as a worldwide issue with long-lasting and hazardous effects to the environment, animals and humans. The natural degradation of MPs from the environment takes several years and by the time the MPs are removed, they would have already left a negative impact on the surroundings. Hence, there is an urgent need for determining the status of MPs pollution in water resources and developing eco-friendly strategies to remove them from ecosystems. The existing collaboration between Lund University, Uppsala University, Tshwane University of Technology, University of Pretoria and University of Vends aims to contribute towards building capacity in both South Africa and Sweden in remote sensing, bioremediation, environmental analytical chemistry methods for characterisation as well as modelling of pollutants. The workshop on characterisation and bioremediation of microplastics aims to bring together researchers, early career researchers, postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students from both South Africa and Sweden to engage on current trends in elucidating the fate and transport of these contaminants of emerging concern using artificial intelligence and machine learning, characterisation using hyperspectral remote sensing and imaging as well as bioremediation technologies for the removal of these CECs in water resources. It is envisaged that a community of practice between South Africa and Sweden researchers can continuously work towards developing a spectral library and geospatial data to fill the large knowledge gaps about the geographic and temporal scales of microplastic distribution as well as propose strategies for the bioremediation of MPs in waters.
The workshop be in a hybrid format to allow wider participation in both South Africa and Sweden.
The workshop will be in the form of presentation from experts including a question and answer
and way forward. The workshop structure could be structured as follows:
5 minutes: Welcome and overview of the workshop
45 minutes presentation on bioremediation of MPs (Swedish partners)
10 minutes Q&A
45 minutes presentation on remote sensing and characterisation of microplastics (South African
partners)
10 minutes Q&A
5 minutes closing and wayforard
The Swedish presentations are as follows:Mikael Ekvall: Nanoplastics in wetland models: Fate and effect
Tommy Cedervall och Martin Lundqvist: Facilitated breakdown of microplastics in nature
Rajni Hatti Kaul: Different means of bioremediation of microplastics
Keywords: Microplastics, characterisation, bioremediation, remote sensing
