Join a group of speakers who will look at what has happened over the last couple of years in Cornwall, Devon and further afield. There will be a chance for questions after each speaker.

1. Delia Webb: Joint co-ordinator of the Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition - We Kept Calm and Carried On

An overview of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the activities of the CPPC member groups and how they have adapted to new methods of working and communicating, together with a look at the current trends in littered plastics encountered by volunteer beach-cleaners & litter-pickers across the Duchy

2. Florence Parker-Jurd: Research Assistant at the University of Plymouth’s International Marine Litter Research Unit – Examining the contribution of vehicle tyre wear particles to microplastic emissions.

Desk based studies have indicated tyre wear particles, generated due to friction at the tyre-road interface, to be substantial contributors to microplastic emissions. However, very little empirical data on tyre wear in the environment exists. While tyre wear is evidenced to be generated in vast quantities at its source, its distribution, transport potential and fate in the environment is largely unknown. This project quantified tyre wear at principle entry points to the marine environment; treated wastewater effluent, un-treated surface water drainage, and atmospheric deposition enabling conclusions as to the relative importance of the pathways examined, and the relative importance of tyre wear to total microplastic load

3. Dan Wilson: PhD Student at the University of Exeter - Microplastic pollution on beaches in the Bristol Channel

Our large scale sampling effort and subsequent laboratory analysis revealed microplastic pollution to be present on beaches right across the Bristol Channel. We found secondary fragments to be the dominant type of microplastic and highlighted that depositional environment has a significant impact on the abundance of microplastic pollution on individual beaches. This talk presents our findings and outlines what we can learn from these results.

4. Dr Sarah Nelms: Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Exeter - Investigating the distribution and regional occurrence of anthropogenic litter in English marine protected areas using 25 years of citizen-science beach clean data

Dr Sarah Nelms will be explaining the findings of her study which looked at the extent of pollution from anthropogenic litter, particularly plastic pollution, in the English Marine Protected Area (MPA) network.