Project Specifics

The Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) Microplastics Team, established in January 2021, brings together stakeholders to write and publish a guidance document on microplastics. Geosyntec staff served on this team and helped prepare text addressing sources of microplastics, fate and transport, regulations, sampling and analysis, health effects, and mitigation and abatement.

Geosyntec Scope of Services

In addition to preparing text for the guidance document for the fate and transport, sampling and analysis, regulatory, and health effects chapters, Geosyntec also developed a case study on nurdle management along the Gulf Coast focusing on a litigation case involving nurdles, small preproduction pellets that are used as raw materials in plastic product manufacturing.

This case study was essential for the project, because nurdles are the second largest source of ocean microplastics and have been found along beaches and in waterways across the country, including the Gulf Coast region. These pellets, which are less than 5 millimeters in diameter, can be released during production or in transit, and are considered primary microplastics.

Our microplastics staff are also members of the ITRC Microplastics Outreach Team.

Notable Accomplishments

The ITRC Microplastics Guidance Document was completed and published with the subsequent opening of online training. The guidance document is intended for audiences with scientific understanding but not necessarily with microplastics-specific knowledge.

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