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A comprehensive assessment of plastic remediation technologies
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Researchers systematically catalogued 124 existing plastic cleanup technologies, finding that most are designed for inland waterways like rivers and canals, with a surge of new designs published in recent years. Despite promising advances, significant challenges remain in scaling these technologies for real-world use, especially in ports and complex water systems.
The global presence of plastic litter and its accumulation in the environment has become an issue of concern to the public and policymakers. This concern has triggered innovators in past decades to design and develop a multitude of remediation technologies to prevent plastic from entering the environment, or to clean up legacy litter. This study aims to (i) systematically review the current scientific literature on plastic remediation technologies, (ii) create a 'plastic clean-up and prevention overview' illustrating 124 remediation technologies and 29 characteristics, (iii) qualitatively analyse their key characteristics (e.g., fields of application, targeted plastic), and (iv) investigate challenges and opportunities of clean-up technologies for inland waterways (e.g., canals, rivers) and ports. We identified 61 scientific publications on plastic remediation technologies, until June 2022. Thirty-four of these studies were published within the last three years, demonstrating a growing interest. The presented overview indicates that inland waterways are, so far, the preferred field of application, with 22 technologies specifically designed for cleaning up plastics from inland waterways, and 52 additional ones with the potential to be installed in these locations. Given the importance of clean-up technologies in inland waterways, we highlighted their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). Our results indicate that, despite the challenges, these technologies provide essential prospects, from improving the environmental quality to raising awareness. Our study is instrumental as it illustrates an up-to-date overview and provides a comprehensive analysis of current in design phase, testing, and in use plastic remediation technologies.
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Researchers created a comprehensive inventory of 52 technologies designed to either prevent plastic from entering waterways or collect existing marine plastic pollution. The study found that while many promising solutions exist, most target macroplastics and there are far fewer options for capturing microplastics. The inventory serves as a roadmap for policymakers and innovators to compare approaches and identify where more technological development is needed.
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This review examined case studies of macro- and microplastic pollution in coastal waters and rivers, discussing the current state of contamination and evaluating emerging removal technologies and policy interventions. The authors assessed whether new technological solutions and regulatory actions could realistically address the global scale of plastic pollution.
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Researchers applied a systems-level framework to review 176 studies on marine plastic pollution management, finding that waste collection infrastructure and freshwater pathways are critically understudied and that no existing strategy — from beach cleanup to biomaterials — is scalable enough to meaningfully reverse the plastic crisis.
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Researchers reviewed 177 validated innovative solutions for preventing, monitoring, and cleaning marine litter from a global search, finding that most focused on monitoring rather than prevention, few had reached commercial maturity, and none had been validated for environmental impact or efficiency.
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Researchers reviewed a wide range of techniques for detecting and removing microplastics and chemical plasticizers (additives that make plastic flexible) from water, covering methods from microscopy to advanced oxidation and metal-organic frameworks. The review highlights that no single method works for all situations, and cost-effective, sustainable approaches tailored to specific pollutant types are still urgently needed.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.