- Expert(s)
- Philip Ackermann, Simone Berk, Nina Wünsche
- Website
- City
- Bonn
- Country
- Germany
- Type of member
- Project
- Sea basin regions
- Atlantic Ocean (including North Sea)Baltic SeaBlack SeaMediterranean Sea
- Topics - other
- Marine/Ocean
- Environmental domains
- FreshwaterMarine/Ocean
- Main activities
- Marine Science / Research
- Main activities - other
- Citizen Science; Ocean literacy; Education
The Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! initiative investigates plastic waste pollution in European rivers, oceans, and seas. Using a large-scale citizen science approach, young people (school classes/youth groups) gather data that is being analysed by scientists and researchers. The students play a hands-on role in research as they pick the river, coast or sea to investigate, they take the samples, measure, collect and enter the data gathered into a database. This way, they become an integral part of scientific research and gain ocean literacy as wells as environmental awareness and knowledge on litter pollution.
The data gathered helps to analyse the origins and pathways of plastic pollution from and in European rivers, oceans and seas and to develop solutions for the prevention, reduction, and removal of marine and riverine pollution, particularly plastics.
First developed in Germany in 2016, the Plastic Pirates initiative is currently under way in 13 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain.