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T1 Monitoring Plastics in Rivers and Lakes: Guidelines for the Harmonization of Methodologies
A1 United Nations Environment Programme, 
A2 Wendt-Potthoff, Katrin
A2 Avellán, Tamara
A2 van Emmerik, Tim
A2 Hamester, Meike
A2 Kirschke, Sabrina
A2 Kitover, Danielle
A2 Schmidt, Christian
A2 Smith, John
A2 Kremer, Hartwig
A2 Akrofi, Joana
A2 Uusimaa, Kaisa
A2 Salyani, Anham
A2 Savelli-Soderberg, Heidi
K1 plastic waste
K1 pollution
K1 marine environment
K1 environmental monitoring
K1 sampling
K1 river
K1 lake
K1 reservoir
K1 drinking water
K1 wastewater
K1 biota
K1 chemical
K1 polymer
K1 pollutant
K1 metadata
SN 978-92-807-3819-3
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/35405
UL https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/35405
NO The purpose of this report is to provide guidelines for the assessment of plastic contamination, from macro- to microplastics, in freshwater environments. It provides the most current procedures for monitoring and analysing plastic content in rivers, lakes, reservoirs and water/wastewater treatment plants. Recommendations have been developed reflecting stakeholder inputs from a series of workshops, which revealed that developing and developed countries face similar challenges with the implementation of monitoring programmes for plastics in freshwater environments. However, the type and intensity of hurdles to be overcome in setting up monitoring programmes may differ in different countries. The guidelines are designed to assist in the timely development and implementation of freshwater plastic monitoring programmes, tailored to the different starting conditions in the different countries.
DS UN Environment Document Repository
RD Sep 16, 2026