To put an end to plastic pollution worldwide

World Environment Day is an initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that is organized annually around a theme and serves to focus attention on a particularly pressing issue. This year, 2025, it focuses on one of the most persistent and urgent environmental challenges of our time: plastic pollution.

Under the slogan "Stop Plastic Pollution”, this commemoration seeks to mobilize governments, businesses, communities, and individuals in response to the growing scientific evidence on the effects of plastic pollution and invites us to drastically reduce the use of single-use plastics and transform our relationship with plastic: to reject it, reduce it, reuse it, recycle it, and, above all, to rethink it to build a cleaner and more sustainable future.

This June 5, 2025, the world not only commemorates, but act ¡!

https://www.un.org/es/observances/environment-day

The Environment Institute´s research on plastics and microplastics

• Microplastics in the environment
  • LAnd-Based solutions for PLAStics in the Sea (LABPLAS) H2020 https://labplas.eu/
  • Integrated approach on the fate of Microplastics (MPs) towards healthy marine ecosystems. (Enfoque integrado sobre el destino de MicroPlásticos (MPs) hacia ecosistemas marinos saludables). MicroplastiX – JPI Oceans https://www.microplastix.org/
  • Impacto de microplásticos, contaminantes regulados y emergentes en ecosistemas marinos y establecimiento de sus criterios de calidad ambiental (IMPACTA)

• Plastics and plastic additives
  • Aditivos Plásticos más Seguros para biopolímeros y neumáticos para Ecosistemas Marinos más Saludables (SPLASHMARE) Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
  • Biodisponibilidad in-vitro de contaminantes prioritarios en materia particulada atmosférica. Evaluación de riesgos para la salud y predicción de la toxicidad
  • Riesgo Potencial y Evaluación Ambiental de los Procesos de Biodegradación y Reciclado de Plásticos (RisBioPlas) Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación https://udc.es/es/iuma/Resultados/proxecto-risbioplas/
  • Alternativas Ambientalmente Respetuosas para Polímeros y sus Aditivos Químicos en Medio Acuático (ARPA-ACUA) Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad

• Improvement in micro and nanoplastic analysis methodologies
  • Metrological traceability of measurement data from nano to small-microplastics for a greener environment and food safety – (PlasticTrace) H2020 EURAMET https://plastictrace.eu/
  • Programa de Ciencias Mariñas de Galicia. Paquete de traballo 3 (PT3) novas tecnoloxías e ferramentas de observación e monitorización do medio mariño https://galicia.thinkinazul.es/
  • Defining the baselines and standards for microplastics analyses in European waters (BASEMAN) JPI Oceans https://www.jpi-oceans.eu/archive/baseman/main-page.html

• Scientific outreach – Workshops on microplastics and their impact on the environment