🧪 Continuous River Monitoring as a Tool for Plastic Pollution Assessment 🌊

We are pleased to share a newly published article in Marine Pollution Bulletin documenting two separate one-year periods (2021/22 and 2024/25) of daily macro-litter monitoring at the river–sea interface of the Aarhus River, Denmark 🇩🇰.

This research, led by @Geraldo Mihut (@PlastCenterDanmark) and Mirco Haseler (@Leibniz-Institut für Ostseeforschung Warnemünde), represents the first continuous 24-hour dataset of floating macro-litter collected in Denmark and across the Baltic region 🌍.

Using the SeaProtectorOne interception device (developed by @AllInOnGreenApS), we recorded and categorised over 80,000 individual litter items across two comparable monitoring campaigns — enabling detailed analysis of temporal variation, material composition, and potential litter sources.

The study also benefitted from the valuable contribution of @TeknikogMiljø, who were responsible for emptying the SeaProtectorOne and systematically recording the collected litter — an essential component of the research process.

🔍 Key findings:

• 🧾 63,035 items were collected in 2021/22 and 18,725 items in 2024/25 — a >70% reduction in total litter load.
  • 🧃 Plastics remained the dominant material (~60%), followed by paper/cardboard (~23%) and metal (~10%).
  • 📅 Litter peaks occurred on weekends, reflecting social and recreational activity patterns.
  • 🌿 The reduction likely results from a combination of EU-level policies, local prevention efforts, and growing public awareness.

This work demonstrates the importance of continuous, high-frequency monitoring for understanding litter dynamics and evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation strategies.
Such long-term datasets provide critical input for policy design, urban litter management, and circular economy development in riverine and coastal systems.

The study was conducted within the @Circular Ocean-bound Plastic project under the @InterregSouthBalticProgramme, showcasing how cross-sector collaboration — between research, innovation, and policy — can turn data into real environmental impact💡🤝.

🔗 Read the full open-access article here

For more information, please contact #Geraldo Mihut at: gm@plastcenter.dk