A placement is offered to a student interested in assessing plastic pollution on the shores of the Shannon estuary, where Ireland’s largest river flow into the Atlantic Ocean. The objective is to characterise shore litter from the macro size-range down to the microplastic scale (5mm). Field excursions to various sites on the Shannon estuary will involve quantitative sampling using random quadrats to collect material for laboratory analyses. One sampling event will target the river Shannon as it enters the estuary to get an estimate of plastic entering the estuary via riverine sources. Plastic litter will be described in terms of quantity, proportion of plastic items to other litter, size of plastic items and polymer type using Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR).
In addition, a photo library of plastics at the sites visited will provide descriptive data on the types of plastics most commonly found, forming the base of a comparison with other European plastics research groups. Analysis of data provided from “clean-up” groups and annual surveys carried out in the Shannon estuary regions may be used together with data gathered to identify “plastic hotspots” on a map (GIS) and the creation of a joint database of plastic distribution.
