PLAST designed to help all users apply plastic pollution assessment methodologies

05 / 08 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

The ‘Plastic Pollution Assessment Methodologies Suitability Toolkit’ (PLAST) is designed to aid all users interested in applying plastic pollution assessment methodologies, such as governments, NGOs, local authorities, businesses, academia, and developers. These users include both those wanting to apply a methodology to assess plastic pollution and those looking to understanding how different methodologies compare.

PLAST has been designed to characterize and compare plastic pollution assessment methodologies and generalized methodological approaches to suggest the most suitable options based on a user’s requirements.

PLAST has four objectives; including collating methodologies available for the assessment of plastic pollution; characterizing assessment methodologies according to an explanatory framework; suggesting what broad methodological approaches may be best suited based on a user’s overall objectives and generalized resources; and suggesting suitable plastic pollution assessment methodologies based on a user’s specific technical- and policy-related objectives and data availability.

PLAST has been developed using Microsoft Excel and harnesses Visual Basic for Application to provide an intuitive and interactive graphical user interface for users.

PLAST works by initially categorizing each plastic pollution assessment methodology based on a framework of important features, such as scope, outputs, and data requirements.

PLAST automatically scores and ranks the assessment methodologies against these criteria. Users are provided with results on the relative suitability of different methodological approaches as well as a comparison of the top three suggested assessment methodologies.

PLAST was developed by a team from the University of Leeds, Deltares and IUCN. Funding was provided by PROBLUE, an umbrella multi-donor trust fund, administered by the World Bank, that supports the sustainable and integrated development of marine and coastal resources in healthy oceans.