One of the things we have already started looking at is the possible link between how silts, sands and gravels move around the coastline, and where we might find plastics. Sediment budgets are a process that looks at how sediment moves around coastlines through the process es of erosion and accretion. Fine suspended silts and sands are deposited on lower energy tidal flows, while heavier sands and gravels need higher energy water movement. Small pieces of microplastics act very much like fine suspended sands, so can we use our existing knowledge to identify possible stores and sinks of plastic material? If we can it could help identify their location and make removal more cost effective and optimise the use of resources.
