Microplastics Outreach Event

Gustavo Blanco and his team at Instituto Español de Oceanografí (IEO) facilitated a microplastics outreach event this week as part of the Erasmus project "SWAP: Students against Water and Air Pollution", that was coordinated by the local Losada School. This event took place on Canido beach in Vigo, and was attended by 30 international students form Hungary, Greece, and Belgium.

This event focused on the importance of microplastic pollution in our marine environment, and the research work done at IEO as part of the ANDROMEDA project. The students had the opportunity to participate in practical activities such as the extraction of microplastics from beach sand, and learned about the effect of polymer density on buoyancy of microplastics. They also had the opportunity to study microplastics collected under a stereomicroscope.