Microplastics Methods Workshop

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Microplastics are increasingly being recognized as pervasive in the environment, including the water column, sediments, animal tissue and even drinking water. That pervasiveness has led to product bans for small plastics, such as microbeads used in cosmetic products, to larger plastic items that can degrade into microplastics, such as bags and straws. In addition, there are new and planned requirements to monitor microplastics in the environment and in drinking water.

Implementing monitoring programs requires reliable standardized methods and best practice guidelines. Such methods enable comparison of studies among regions, and the ability to compare quantification among sources. Although people have been quantifying and characterizing microplastics in samples for more than a decade, standard field and laboratory methods, or the reference materials necessary for quality assurance, do not yet exist.

This workshop will bring together microplastics experts from around the world to explore a path toward method standardization. The workshop will be conducted in collaboration with the State of California Water Resources Control Board and the California Ocean Protection Council, which have legislative mandates to develop standardized microplastics monitoring methods for both ocean and drinking waters.

The workshop will take place over two days. The first day will be open to the public to hear from experts about the latest advances in sampling and measurement methods. The second day will be a working session limited to invited experts to summarize the state of the science and to recommend studies California management agencies should invest in to better achieve method standardization and an understanding of method repeatability.

Workshop Objectives:

1. Facilitate a conversation among the management community, stakeholders and microplastics experts to enhances understanding of policy-makers needs regarding microplastics method standardization.
2. Agree on state of the science regarding sampling, extraction and analysis methods.
3. Identify the research necessary to reach shared goals, including design of studies necessary to develop standardized methods for microplastics analysis.