Plastic-Pirates

Part of EU Open Research Repository
Published May 30, 2025 | Version 2.0.0
Dataset Open

Plastic Pirates - Go Europe!: Floating macro-, meso- and microlitter data collected by citizens in rivers in Europe between 2022 and 2024

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Flanders Marine Institute
  • 2. ROR icon National Institute of Biology
  • 3. ROR icon Znanstveno-raziskovalno središče Koper
  • 4. ROR icon Hellenic Centre for Marine Research
  • 5. ROR icon Burgas Free University
  • 6. ROR icon MARE - Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente
  • 7. ROR icon University of Coimbra
  • 8. ROR icon Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology
  • 9. ROR icon Center for Physical Sciences and Technology
  • 10. ROR icon National Research Council
  • 11. Plastic Cup Society
  • 12. ROR icon Ciência Viva
  • 13. ROR icon University of Pannonia
  • 14. Marevivo
  • 15. ROR icon BOKU University
  • 16. ROR icon University of Primorska
  • 17. ROR icon Centro de Ciências do Mar do Algarve
  • 18. Lithuanian Agency of Non-formal Education
  • 19. ROR icon Legambiente
  • 20. ROR icon Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia
  • 21. ROR icon Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR)

Contributors

Description

Floating macro-, meso- and microlitter data collected by school children from the surface water of European rivers and streams in the period 2022-2024 for the Plastic Pirates – Go Europe! project. (Micro)litter particles have been analysed in the lab by experts to assess their characteristics. The data have been validated by experts of the Plastic Pirates partner institutes according to a data verification protocol. After validation of the data by the partner institutes, further quality control was done by VLIZ and NIB. Data harmonisation, standardisation and publication was done by VLIZ. 

Acknowledgement: These data have been collected by numerous school schildren and their teachers from primary and secondary schools. We would like to thank all of them for their valuable contributions. 

Over the years, countless people have contributed to the Plastic Pirates project. The concept for it is based on the citizen science projects Científicos de la Basura and Following the Pathways of Litter and has been continously developed by colleagues from Kiel Science Factory (Germany), the Científicos de la Basura at Universidad Católica del Norte (Chile), the Ecologic Institute (Germany) and the partner institutions of the Plastic Pirates - Go Europe! initiative. The design of the material was done by familie redlich AG, KOMPAKTMEDIEN, the Ecologic Institute and the DLR Project Management Agency (Germany).

The data files contain data on the amount of floating litter observed, the sampling effort and the characteristics (size, type, colour, material) of the (micro)litter particles. The data are collected in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal and Slovenia during the autumn 2022, spring 2023, autumn 2023, spring 2024 and autumn 2024 sampling campaigns of the project. The sampling methods used can be found in the Plastic Pirates project booklet (methods for group C and D): https://www.plastic-pirates.eu/en/material/download.

Files

PlasticPirates_Floating_data_v2.0.0.zip

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Additional details

Funding

European Commission
PlasticPiratesEU - UPSCALING THE PLASTIC PIRATES CITIZEN SCIENCE INITIATIVE 101088822

Dates

Collected
2022
Collected
2023
Collected
2024