A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science
Abstract Plastic pollution is considered one of today’s major environmental problems. Current land-based monitoring programs typically rely on beach litter data and seldom include plastic pollution further inland. We initiated a citizen science project known as the Mass Experiment inviting schools t...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74768-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74768-5.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74768-5 |
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crspringernat:10.1038/s41598-020-74768-5 2023-05-15T16:28:55+02:00 A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science Syberg, Kristian Palmqvist, Annemette Khan, Farhan R. Strand, Jakob Vollertsen, Jes Clausen, Lauge Peter Westergaard Feld, Louise Hartmann, Nanna B. Oturai, Nikoline Møller, Søren Nielsen, Torkel Gissel Shashoua, Yvonne Hansen, Steffen Foss Velux Fonden 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74768-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74768-5.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74768-5 en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Scientific Reports volume 10, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 Multidisciplinary journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74768-5 2022-01-04T10:04:50Z Abstract Plastic pollution is considered one of today’s major environmental problems. Current land-based monitoring programs typically rely on beach litter data and seldom include plastic pollution further inland. We initiated a citizen science project known as the Mass Experiment inviting schools throughout The Danish Realm (Denmark, Greenland and the Faeroe Islands) to collect litter samples of and document plastic pollution in 8 different nature types. In total approximately 57,000 students (6–19 years) collected 374,082 plastic items in 94 out of 98 Danish municipalities over three weeks during fall 2019. The Mass Experiment was the first scientific survey of plastic litter to cover an entire country. Here we show how citizen science, conducted by students, can be used to fill important knowledge gaps in plastic pollution research, increase public awareness, establish large scale clean-up activities and subsequently provide information to political decision-makers aiming for a more sustainable future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Greenland Springer Nature (via Crossref) Greenland Scientific Reports 10 1 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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crspringernat |
language |
English |
topic |
Multidisciplinary |
spellingShingle |
Multidisciplinary Syberg, Kristian Palmqvist, Annemette Khan, Farhan R. Strand, Jakob Vollertsen, Jes Clausen, Lauge Peter Westergaard Feld, Louise Hartmann, Nanna B. Oturai, Nikoline Møller, Søren Nielsen, Torkel Gissel Shashoua, Yvonne Hansen, Steffen Foss A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science |
topic_facet |
Multidisciplinary |
description |
Abstract Plastic pollution is considered one of today’s major environmental problems. Current land-based monitoring programs typically rely on beach litter data and seldom include plastic pollution further inland. We initiated a citizen science project known as the Mass Experiment inviting schools throughout The Danish Realm (Denmark, Greenland and the Faeroe Islands) to collect litter samples of and document plastic pollution in 8 different nature types. In total approximately 57,000 students (6–19 years) collected 374,082 plastic items in 94 out of 98 Danish municipalities over three weeks during fall 2019. The Mass Experiment was the first scientific survey of plastic litter to cover an entire country. Here we show how citizen science, conducted by students, can be used to fill important knowledge gaps in plastic pollution research, increase public awareness, establish large scale clean-up activities and subsequently provide information to political decision-makers aiming for a more sustainable future. |
author2 |
Velux Fonden |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Syberg, Kristian Palmqvist, Annemette Khan, Farhan R. Strand, Jakob Vollertsen, Jes Clausen, Lauge Peter Westergaard Feld, Louise Hartmann, Nanna B. Oturai, Nikoline Møller, Søren Nielsen, Torkel Gissel Shashoua, Yvonne Hansen, Steffen Foss |
author_facet |
Syberg, Kristian Palmqvist, Annemette Khan, Farhan R. Strand, Jakob Vollertsen, Jes Clausen, Lauge Peter Westergaard Feld, Louise Hartmann, Nanna B. Oturai, Nikoline Møller, Søren Nielsen, Torkel Gissel Shashoua, Yvonne Hansen, Steffen Foss |
author_sort |
Syberg, Kristian |
title |
A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science |
title_short |
A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science |
title_full |
A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science |
title_fullStr |
A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science |
title_full_unstemmed |
A nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the Danish realm using citizen science |
title_sort |
nationwide assessment of plastic pollution in the danish realm using citizen science |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74768-5 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74768-5.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-74768-5 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Greenland |
genre_facet |
Greenland |
op_source |
Scientific Reports volume 10, issue 1 ISSN 2045-2322 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-74768-5 |
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Scientific Reports |
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10 |
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1 |
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1766018605379485696 |