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Engaging Volunteers as Experts in Data-Driven Research Projects and a Circular Economy: The Case of PlastOPol
Summary
This paper describes PlastOPol, a citizen science project that trained volunteers to collect and analyze data on beached plastic litter using digital tools. The project found that engaging volunteers as genuine data contributors — not just collectors — improved both data quality and community investment in addressing plastic pollution.
Abstract Beached plastic litter is a global concern and is also an important source of data for research to improve our understanding of the extent and the main sources of the problem. Digital tools can help both in making the data registration process easier for citizen scientists and in processing the information and displaying it visually to decision makers. However, we argue that it is also vital to include the local ecological knowledge of both volunteers and semi-professional beach-cleaners. In this chapter, we summarise the main challenges in modelling plastic behaviour in the seas together with some of the best tools available to date. We then highlight how volunteers can contribute to testing and refining the tools. We exemplify this point through the case of the PlastOPol project and derive implications for mitigation and prevention measures.