Microplastics and Bio-based Products
5. July 2026
Microplastic Mapping in Germany and Europe
22. July 2026
Microplastics regulation and removal from wastewater: where will we be in 2026?
A framing note first: regulating microplastics in the EU does not mean a single law but four interlocking levels. First, substance and product law, which limits input at source. Second, wastewater law, which so far imposes monitoring duties rather than limit values. Third, water law with environmental quality standards and watch lists. Fourth, drinking water and sewage sludge law. Looking only at the treatment plant misses three quarters of the framework.
The pollution of our waters by microplastics has become one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time. Tiny plastic particles, smaller than five millimeters, not only permeate our oceans and rivers, but are now also found in our drinking water and even in the human body. The challenge is complex: while research into health effects is still ongoing, policymakers and industry need to develop solutions today. We take a look at the current state of regulations and the available microplastic removal technologies.
EU regulation: four levels, very different regulatory density
The European Union set an important course in 2024, though a narrower one than is often reported: with Delegated Decision (EU) 2024/1441 the Commission established a harmonised methodology for measuring microplastics – for drinking water, under the Drinking Water Directive (EU) 2020/2184. For wastewater, sewage sludge and surface waters no harmonised method exists to this day. The Commission still has to establish them under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, several by 2 January 2028. Without standardised measurement methods neither the current situation nor any progress can be documented; that is precisely the bottleneck today.
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FACT-CHECK NOTE The methodological gap in one sentence: a harmonised measurement methodology has existed for drinking water since 2024, but not for surface waters, wastewater or sewage sludge. That is why microplastics appear on the watch lists for surface water and groundwater under Directive (EU) 2026/805 but will only be monitored once suitable methods are available. There is no environmental quality standard for microplastics in any water body. |
Nevertheless, experts, including us, criticize the current requirements as inadequate. Current studies show that the EU requirements for microplastics analysis are set too coarsely, especially in terms of sampling frequency. In our study, we found that samples need to be taken and analyzed much more frequently in order to capture both seasonal and monthly fluctuations. This can now be quantified: securing a mean within a ±25 % margin of error at 95 % confidence requires 21 large-volume samples or 51 grab samples (Microplastics 2026, 5, 75). The directive requires two samples per year at large plants.
Level 1: substance and product law – where microplastics are actually limited
The most effective lever is not in the treatment plant but upstream of it. Four legal acts are decisive and were not mentioned in this post before:
- REACH restriction, Regulation (EU) 2023/2055: entry 78 of Annex XVII covers synthetic polymer microparticles below five millimetres from a content of 0.01 % by weight. Microbeads in rinse-off cosmetics and loose glitter have been banned since 17 October 2023; further uses are phased out in stages, including the encapsulation of fragrances from 17 October 2029 and make-up, lip and nail products from 17 October 2035.
- Plastic pellets, Regulation (EU) 2025/2365: risk management plans for all operators handling five tonnes of pellets per year or more, independent certification above 1,500 tonnes, covering transport and maritime carriage. It entered into force on 16 December 2025 and applies substantially from 17 December 2027.
- Euro 7, Regulation (EU) 2024/1257: non-exhaust emissions are regulated for the first time, and therefore also for battery electric vehicles. Brake limits are 3 mg/km for pure electric vehicles and 7 mg/km for other drivetrains; the regulation applies to new type approvals from 29 November 2026.
- Packaging Regulation (EU) 2025/40, applicable from 12 August 2026, and the Single-Use Plastics Directive (EU) 2019/904: these address littering as a diffuse secondary source and contain no water law requirements.
Level 2: wastewater law – monitoring instead of a limit value
There is no effluent limit value for microplastics in the EU. Article 21 of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (EU) 2024/3019 requires monitoring of microplastics and PFAS at the inlet and outlet of municipal treatment plants. The frequency is graded by plant size: for agglomerations of 150,000 population equivalents and above, at least two samples per year with no more than six months between them; between 10,000 and 150,000 population equivalents, at least one sample every two years. From 150,000 population equivalents sewage sludge must also be monitored, and below that where sludge is reused in agriculture. Article 5 requires integrated urban wastewater management plans, including storm water overflows.
The challenge of wastewater treatment: Innovation needed
The removal of microplastics from wastewater poses completely new technical challenges for wastewater treatment plants. Conventional treatment processes are not designed for these tiny particles. There is currently little data available on the elimination performance of microplastics by wastewater treatment plants. This data gap makes it difficult both to assess the current situation and to develop targeted solutions. Advanced stages do not automatically help either: comparing three municipal plants with two, three and four treatment stages, no significant differences in effluent microplastic concentration were found (Water 2025, 17, 711). The quaternary stage is designed for dissolved micropollutants, not for particles.
The situation with industrial wastewater is particularly problematic. The textile and plastics industries are among the main sources of microplastic emissions. Here, new microplastic particles are continuously created not only through production waste, but also through abrasion and decomposition during processing. Measured magnitudes: 1,725 ± 377 mg/L of microplastics in raw wastewater from a packaging production line (Clean Technol. 2025, 7, 67), against a few tens of particles per litre in municipal treatment plant effluent.
With our Wasser 3.0 PE-X® technology, we have been providing answers for industry and wastewater treatment plant operators, as well as for politics, for years. We have developed a process whose removal performance is documented across several water matrices in peer-reviewed work: between 86 ± 8 % at a two-stage municipal treatment plant (Clean Technol. 2026, 8, 32) and 99.1 % in heavily loaded industrial wastewater (Clean Technol. 2025, 7, 67), in each case by particle count above the 10 µm detection limit. We do not claim to have been first to market. The method is based on a combination of different physico-chemical processes. Coupled with the microplastics analysis, we are able to monitor processes, determine elimination efficiencies and record data for years.
Drinking water: filtration as a temporary solution
While large-scale solutions for wastewater treatment are constantly being developed, many consumers rely on water filters with hollow fiber membrane technology. Although these can partially remove microplastic particles from drinking water, they do not solve the problem at source, but only offer an end-of-pipe solution that is often not needed at all.
Although drinking water quality in Germany is considered to be very high, microplastic particles are increasingly being detected here too. Studies from 2024 show detections of microplastics in human tissues, including in placenta samples. Detecting particles evidences exposure; a causal link with specific health damage has not been demonstrated on current evidence.
Economic opportunities in the circular economy
The challenge of microplastics also holds considerable economic potential. Innovative wastewater treatment technologies enable not only the removal of micropollutants, but also the reuse of purified water. Removing microplastics can save water, energy, and costs and make wastewater recyclable. The water side is evidenced: in pilot operation at a packaging production line, up to 80 % of the process water was reusable (Clean Technol. 2025, 7, 67). For energy and costs, only site-specific values exist so far.
Companies that invest in appropriate technologies at an early stage can secure competitive advantages. Sustainable process design, the circular economy and resource efficiency are inextricably linked. From 2028 a direct cost factor is added for manufacturers of human medicinal products and cosmetics: under Articles 9 and 10 of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive they bear at least 80 % of the costs of the quaternary treatment stage, with schemes to be set up by 31 December 2028. Caveat: in Case C-193/25, Advocate General Kokott proposed on 3 September 2026 that Article 9(1)(a) and Annex III be annulled; the judgment is pending.
What the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive requires – and what it does not
The Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (EU) 2024/3019 was adopted on 27 November 2024, published in the Official Journal on 12 December 2024 and entered into force on 1 January 2025; it must be transposed by 31 July 2027. For microplastics it contains monitoring duties only – no limit value and no retrofit obligation. For micropollutants the opposite applies: Article 8 mandates a quaternary treatment stage with an average minimum removal of 80 %, measured against indicator substances. It covers all plants from 150,000 population equivalents, on a build-out path of 20 % by 2033, 60 % by 2039 and 100 % by 2045, plus agglomerations from 10,000 population equivalents in areas classified as sensitive to micropollutants; that list must be drawn up by 31 December 2030. The statement that the recast contains no build-out obligation therefore holds only for microplastics.
The decisive factor will be that new technologies not only function technically, but can also be economically integrated into existing infrastructures. The focus is therefore on the development of modular, retrofittable systems. In the REMEDIES project, we are already providing wide-ranging and transparent answers to this question. In addition to a life cycle assessment and transfer of the system to the wastewater treatment plant in Mykonos and commissioning in the ongoing wastewater treatment process, we are showing how things can work in the future. Both pieces of work have since been published: the life cycle assessment reporting 25.4 kg CO₂ equivalents per m³ in pilot operation and 1.0 kg CO₂ equivalents per m³ in the optimised circular concept (Water 2025, 17, 671), and the Mykonos results with 86 ± 8 % removal by particle count (Clean Technol. 2026, 8, 32).
International level: still no treaty
At international level, an "International Negotiating Committee" was set up as early as 2022, which was originally intended to develop a legally binding instrument to combat plastic pollution by the end of 2024. That timetable has failed twice: the fifth session in Busan ended in December 2024 without consensus, and its resumption in Geneva from 5 to 15 August 2025 did so as well. The main sticking points were production caps, chemicals of concern and financing. On 7 February 2026 the committee met in Geneva for a single day only, to elect Ambassador Julio Cordano of Chile as its new chair; no substantive negotiation took place. No treaty exists to date.
Need for action remains high
Although 2024 to 2026 have brought substantial regulatory progress, there is still a long way to go before microplastics are effectively controlled. The standardization of measurement methods was an important first step, but the implementation of stringent limits and the widespread implementation of suitable removal technologies are still pending. In Germany, moreover, none of the transposition procedures for the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive has been completed; that deadline falls on 31 July 2027, and the one for Directive (EU) 2026/805 on 21 December 2027.
A sustainable solution to the microplastics problem requires coordinated efforts from politics, industry and research. The combination of stricter regulations, innovative technologies and economic incentives could bring the breakthrough - if all players pull together. The fight against microplastics is a marathon, not a sprint. In substance and product law the direction is now settled; in water law the measurement basis needed to verify it is still missing.
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TRANSPARENCY NOTE ON SOURCES AND DATA STATUS Legal position as at 14 September 2026. Every legal act named is linked to its EUR-Lex reference in the body. Three points from the original version were corrected: Delegated Decision (EU) 2024/1441 establishes a measurement methodology for drinking water rather than for water generally; the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive was adopted on 27 November 2024 and entered into force on 1 January 2025, rather than being adopted in early 2025; and the statement that the recast contains no build-out obligation holds only for microplastics, whereas Article 8 mandates a quaternary treatment stage for micropollutants. Own percentages refer to particle count above the 10 µm detection limit. |
