From Rivers to the Ocean: Understanding the Journey of Plastic Pollution

Here's what it's all about

An estimated 2,500 tonnes of plastic waste enter the oceans daily via river systems, contributing to ecological damage in marine environments and adversely affecting human livelihoods, particularly in communities reliant on aquatic resources.

Our project investigates how microplastics and larger plastic waste travel, accumulate, and behave within river systems. By improving our understanding of the underlying physics of how plastic pollution moves in rivers, we aim to identify more effective methods to monitor and predict plastic movement - ultimately providing the information needed to remove it before it reaches the ocean.

What We Want to Achieve

Our goal is to understand when and where plastic pollution is mobilised, transported, and accumulated within river systems. Using high speed cameras, large experimental tanks, open-channel flume facilities, and fieldwork, the project generates detailed observations of plastic behaviour under realistic flow and turbulence conditions.  

These findings provide the basis for hydraulic models capable of simulating plastic transport in rivers, supporting both engineering solutions for pollution mitigation and hotspot analysis for environmental risk assessment. In the long term, the project aims to provide practical tools and scientific insight for environmental agencies, policymakers, and river management organisations working to reduce aquatic plastic pollution.

Further Information

The funding is primarily intended to support researchers; the necessary research infrastructure is already available at the institute. In addition, the research project aims to give KIT students the opportunity to gain research experience through internships or master’s theses as part of the project.

Facts and Figures