Jumping into the deep end
7. February 2025
Premiere of WASoMI Lab
27. February 2025
Our products were awarded the MERLIN Innovation Award as Product of the Year
The EU-funded MERLIN project is committed to transformative ecosystem restoration by incorporating nature-based solutions into the urgent systemic change in our society.
Ecosystem restoration is key to this transformation and inland waters play an important role. If you look at history, the restoration of streams, rivers, peatlands, and wetlands has a long tradition and offers an extensive knowledge base. Inland waters are ideal demonstrators for the necessary change. But where exactly is the current problem lurking? Where do we start with our solutions? And what do solutions for waters without microplastics look like?
First the facts - water is everywhere
Our planet is full of us (humans) – our demands and our waste – while our economy is now bigger than our planet. But our economy is not sustainable, or to put it another way:
- We cannot have infinite growth on a finite planet.
- The earth can live without us humans, but we (+ future generations) are dependent on a planet with livable conditions.
- To turn things around, we should quickly “reset the buttons and restart”, change some paradigms and adopt existing and new sustainable solutions much more quickly.
Or, to quote Vonnegut and Einstein:
We will go down in history as the first society that didn't want to save itself because it wasn't cost-effective.
We cannot solve our problems with the same way of thinking with which we created them.
Where does water protection begin?
The water cycle connects soil, water and air. It is the driving force behind our climate and the basis of life on this planet. We all need clean water. Without clean water, we will not survive. However, it is already clear today that the ever-increasing pollutant loads in the environment, including microplastics, have a massive impact on the climate, biodiversity and our human health.
Some studies in the medical field indicate that microplastic particles smaller than 150 micrometers can pass through the gastrointestinal barrier and enter other organs. There is also evidence that microplastics can release toxic chemicals such as bisphenol A (BPA) or plasticizers, which can trigger hormonal disruption and inflammation in the human body.
Vulnerable groups such as young children and the elderly are at particular risk. A recent study published in the journal Nature Food in 2020 showed that polypropylene baby bottles can release up to 16 million microplastic particles per liter into the liquid when heated.
Only a small selection of scientists present the results of their studies at a political level - drawing attention to the growing problem of microplastics in the environment and showing how bad microplastics are in a variety of studies that they have designed themselves. Good for the visibility of their own person and the issue.
And yet these results on the health effects of microplastics are still not being evaluated in the same way, or even acted upon with far-reaching measures, including laws and regulations, but also monitoring.
Chaos: Are we walking into the next catastrophe with our eyes wide open?
Apparently, we have learned nothing from the collected climate data, and it looks like the scenario is now repeating itself for the water sector. One of the big problems with scientific data collection is that each study was specifically designed for the respective application (usually laboratory experiments). If you don't reinvent yourself and the wheel for every funding application, you won't get any funding. The result - as things stand today - is sobering. While the number of publications on microplastics has risen rapidly in recent years, there are still very few comparable or harmonizable data sets.
This means there is a lot of data and at least as many opinions, but there has been no data harmonization or data comparability to date. Although numerous research projects and publications show where and when and how much microplastic is present at certain times and in certain measurement intervals at a certain location, these results are obtained using many different methods and procedures and are not standardized.
Time for things to change....
Since we began our work in the field of microplastic analysis, we have been pursuing one major goal: data harmonization by standard protocols. We have developed these standard protocols for both wastewater and bodies of water. Endless hours of analytical measurements have been taken. And now they are available as regulations and manuals for microplastic analysis. Step-by-step, starting with standardized sampling, sample preparation and fluorescence labeling through data evaluation.
Microplastic mapping of water bodies: New territory for us? Rather not!
With this step and the standardization of microplastic analysis, we have succeeded. We have been recording comparative and standardized data on microplastic pollution for more than four years.
The starting point was the long-term monitoring of wastewater from municipal wastewater treatment plants and industrial wastewater. Then more and more directly within industrial processes and as process control for microplastic removal. All our data is available in our publications. Open-access, accessible to all, transparent and in accordance with our statutory mission.
Since 2023, we have also been sampling bodies of water - including rivers, lakes and streams. The Global Map of Microplastics is our cornerstone, and we have built bridges by moving from the process into the water. More than 7000 data points have already been entered into the Global Map of Microplastics. Harmonization and standardization included. The data package grows every time people take our analysis kit to the regional waters and take water samples for microplastic mapping.
Three times “Product of the Year”
Three products - one mission for water without microplastics. © Wasser 3.0
While the removal technology Wasser 3.0 PE-X® was scrutinized by technical juries and experts for many years, the MERLIN Innovation Award took a multidimensional approach to solutions.
This means that the award finalists included technical solutions as well as renaturation measures, reforestation projects and solutions that are not used in the waterways themselves, but much earlier to protect the waterways.
With our detect | remove | reuse approach, we presented our holistic Wasser 3.0 strategy to the jury. By being able to detect microplastics quickly, easily, standardized and efficiently, we can sample water bodies, identify hotspots of microplastic inputs and support the installation of removal technologies. With the circular economy approach to recycling that sets Wasser 3.0 PE-X® apart from all other technologies, we deliver the complete sustainability upgrade.
Reason enough for the jury, who presented the MERLIN Innovation Award for the third time, to honor us. Thank you very much!
Advantages of the MERLIN Innovation Award as a booster for the next steps?
The Merlin project gave us a special opportunity to present our products to 18 European freshwater restoration project managers and many other decision-makers and stakeholders during the online award ceremony.
This is not only our chance to show how we are part of the systemic change of our society and economy, but also to expand our communication radius. One point of contact is the MERLIN-Marketplace.
And what's next for us in terms of water protection?
This year, Wasser 3.0 is really getting down to business in the field of microplastic analysis of water bodies. With WASoMI Lab and the Alles im Fluss project area, we are activating schools and interested members of the public. For the first time, entire rivers are being sampled within a short period of time.
These activities can only be accomplished collectively and would not be possible without sponsors. We offer you the great opportunity to participate directly and contribute your data point to the Global Map of Microplastics, or to support school projects. Help us and become an impact accelerator.
